Experts have suggested that introducing Scotland’s £25 per week payment for poor families could significantly reduce child poverty in Wales. The Scottish Child Payment, introduced in 2021, has been found to have a major impact on child poverty levels by Oxford University and the Joseph Roundtree Foundation. The payment can be claimed by families on Universal Credit and is received by about 300,000 children. Scottish children under the age of 16 and from all kinds of families are entitled to the payment. Meanwhile, children from poorer families in Wales are subject to living conditions below the poverty line, with over a quarter suffering from poverty in 2021-22.
Though the Scottish Child Payment is hugely beneficial, its cost is substantial. Its current estimated cost is £428 million, raising financial concerns for recreating it in Wales. In contrast, Scotland has its own benefits system that ensures better targeting of poor families, unlike Wales, which the government has no control over. The Welsh government stated that it has repeatedly called on the UK government to provide more support to low-income families in Wales, given that powers over social security remain with the UK government.
According to Professor Danny Dorling of Oxford University, the Scottish payment is the most significant attempt to tackle child poverty recorded in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Furthermore, “any talk that says that some other method is better, is going against all the evidence that we’ve collected for decades, which says you have to hand money directly to the families of those who are poorest. They use it most wisely.” Although Wales doesn’t have the legislative powers to create a similar payment scheme, Prof. Dorling suggested that if ministers wanted, it could be set up via councils.
Opposition politicians generally supported the idea of a child payment system, though they expressed support for more research to be done to determine its usefulness before initiating it. Welsh Conservative social justice spokesperson Mark Isherwood highlighted the tremendous amount of funds thrown into eradicating child poverty by the Labour Government since devolution. But several parts of Wales with high levels of child poverty before devolution continue to suffer from it, he pointed out. Plaid Cymru spokeswoman for social justice and equalities, Sioned Williams, declared that a child payment system similar to Scotland’s was proven to be effective in lowering child poverty rates and that it was fundamental to her party’s vision of a Wales free from poverty
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