Budget to double funding for ‘wrap-around’ help for families to £6m

Funding for “wrap-around” family support will be doubled to £6 million, Scotland’s Social Justice Secretary has said.

Shirley-Anne Somerville said the cash, set out in the Budget, will be used by local authorities to test and improve how they deliver help to parents.

The Scottish Budget is yet to be voted through Holyrood but is likely to pass after Labour said its MSPs will abstain.

Ms Somerville said the Government’s Fairer Futures Partnership will help test new approaches and identify lasting solutions to poverty, rather than “quick fixes”.

She said £3 million in new funding for the programme will help it expand to more areas in Scotland and support more people.

Ms Somerville set out the funding plan during a visit to Irvine Royal Academy in North Ayrshire, where she met families being supported through the Fairer Futures Partnership.

Ms Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish Government’s top priority and a national mission. But we can only do that by providing long-term, sustainable solutions, not quick fixes.

“The Scottish child payment, only available in Scotland, will this year help the families of over 330,000 children, and our five family payments could be worth more than £25,000 by the time an eligible child turns 16.

“We are extending provision of free school meals to pupils in P6 and P7 who receive the Scottish child payment, committing a further £14.3 million to support the school clothing grant, and investing in the systems needed to end the two-child cap by April 2026.”

She said the Government will work with councils, communities and the third sector to “test and improve how they deliver services to promote family wellbeing, maximise incomes and support people towards education and into sustained employment”.

She added: “I’m visiting Irvine Royal Academy to hear about some of the programmes and activity North Ayrshire Council has in place to tackle child poverty, support families and children in the local area with the cost of the school day and maximise incomes.

“The work with the school community is a great example of the results that can be delivered when services work together to provide wrap-around support for families.

“We want to explore how we can do this even better and that is why we have doubled our budget for Fairer Futures Partnerships to £6 million for the next financial year.”

North Ayrshire Council leader Marie Burns added: “Tackling child poverty is the number one priority for our administration.

“We have the second highest rate of child poverty in Scotland and we are determined – with support from the Scottish Government and our hard-working partners in the public, private and third sectors – to improve life for families across North Ayrshire.”