People seeking asylum are among the most vulnerable groups in Scotland. They are prevented from working, housed in hotels or private rental accommodation – often in isolated areas – and given less than £50 per week to survive. Yet, they are too often barred from using the public transport they need to access mandatory appointments, … Read more
With the eradication of child poverty the key policy objective of the current Scottish Government, sitting at the centre of the 2024/25 Programme for Government, it is without doubt that the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act has put greater strategic focus on child poverty within this Government’s – and the previous two First Minister’s – priorities … Read more
We worked with the Mental Health Foundation to learn about the training and support needs of Poverty Alliance member organisations around preventative approaches to mental health, with the idea of using the findings to inform development of a new capacity building model. Overall, this survey highlighted that whilst confidence in knowledge around mental health theory … Read more
Reacting to today’s speech on investing in the economy by the First Minister, Poverty Alliance chief executive Peter Kelly said: “We welcome the First Minister’s speech today. We hope it marks the start of a fundamental shift towards compassion and justice among our political leaders. We were particularly pleased that he talked about how the … Read more
Matt Cole,Chair,Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel Read the Panel’s Recommendations for a Social Tariff! The Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel provides independent advice to Scottish Ministers on fuel poverty and scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s progress towards delivering Scotland’s 2040 statutory fuel poverty targets. The energy price crisis and the spiralling costs for consumers which … Read more
Emma Jackson,Strategic Lead for Social Justice,Citizens Advice Scotland I recently heard a Scottish political commentator say (and I paraphrase) ‘Poverty can’t be ended, no other country has done it, so why do we think we can!’ It’s stuck with me. Or rather, infuriated me. It’s true, poverty exists across the globe. However, even though … Read more
On the 4 October we were pleased to be able to kick-off Challenge Poverty Week early with a focus on rural Scotland. Thank you to all our speakers and contributors and to everyone for their engagement in some really useful breakout sessions. You can find the slides that were used on the day here. Presentations included: The … Read more
End Poverty Edinburgh – a group of campaigners and activists people with lived experience of poverty – held their second citizen led conference at the Grassmarket Community Project. The event focused on issues around child poverty in the morning, and health, wellbeing, and leisure in the afternoon. Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley Anne Somerville met … Read more
Zahada Safdar, Activist,The Poverty Alliance / Glasgow Disability Alliance I am single parent, I own my property and I live with the misery of chronic pain everyday. I never anticipated living on a fixed income that doesn’t even cover the bare essentials, whilst the cost of living continues to spiral beyond my reach. As a … Read more
Poverty is a political choice. On Day 2 of Challenge Poverty Week, First Minister John Swinney MSP heard first-hand from people with lived experience of life on low incomes. Terry McTernan from Paisley, Gordon Jamieson from Dundee, Lydia Gitamvu from Glasgow, Kirsty Ngala from near Huntly, and Angie Bird from Argyll highlighted some of the … Read more
Enter your email address to receive regular e-updates about our work. If at any time you want to stop receiving these, simply contact us. We’ll keep your details safe and won’t share them with any other organisations for their marketing purposes. For full details see our Privacy Policy.