Research Publications

A Scottish town.

Briefing: Scottish Government Debate on Investing in Public Services

In our wealthy nation, it is unjust that so many people do not have adequate incomes for a dignified life, with 21% of people in Scotland live in poverty Poverty causes severe harm to people’s daily lives, damaging their health and employment prospects, risking financial and personal wellbeing, and infringing basic rights to things like … Read more

Children in silhouette

Briefing: Child poverty debate in the Scottish Parliament – 10 June 2024

One in four children in Scotland live in poverty. In a country as wealthy as Scotland, this is simply not acceptable. The Poverty and Inequality Commission’s latest scrutiny report on progress of the Child Poverty Delivery Plan makes clear that child poverty levels have stayed broadly the same as they were five years previously, when … Read more

A child playing with building blocks.

Briefing: Ministerial statement on the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan

One in four children in Scotland live with the injustice of poverty in wealthy Scotland. This is simply not acceptable. Last year, the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s scrutiny report concluded that – without urgent and concentrated action – the Scottish Government will miss its 2030 child poverty targets. In the 12 months following the publication … Read more

A stock photo of a bike and fishing boats representing rural Scotland.

Report: Cross Party Group on Poverty inquiry into rural poverty

The Cross Party Group on Poverty in the Scottish Parliament is a forum for exploring the drivers of and solutions to poverty in Scotland. It acts to connect MSPs with organisations working to tackle poverty, as well as with people living on low incomes across Scotland, in order to better inform anti-poverty policymaking and contribute … Read more

A stock photo of some young disabled people sharing a joke on an outside terrace.

Consultation response: The Disability Commissioner (Scotland) Bill

It is wrong that disabled people are more at risk of being pushed into poverty in wealthy Scotland. Evidence relating to disabled people’s poverty is stark. Some 41% of children living in poverty come from a household containing a disabled adult or child. This represents almost double the overall figure for child poverty in Scotland (24%).1 It is … Read more

A stock image illustrating human rights

Research: Together for Change – Community organisations advancing human rights

This report shares key learning from an action learning set with community organisations and members conducted as
part of the Poverty Alliance’s Rights in Action project.

Funded by the Scottish Government’s Equality and Human Rights Fund and supported by Inspiring Scotland, Rights in Action is a three-year project working across Scotland to support communities to use human rights as a tool for change.

This report includes five case studies of organisations’ experiences of advancing human rights through participating in action learning sets as well as reflections and learning from the project around taking a human rights-based approach and human rights education. It draws on interviews with participants, participant learning logs and pre-session reviews, and project team observations and reflections.

You can read it in the window below, or download it here.

Learning Together for Change - Rights in Action
A stock image of a bus

People with experience of poverty and the Scottish Government Fair Fares Review

In November 2022, the Poverty Alliance’s  Get Heard Scotland project was commissioned to recruit, support and facilitate a Citizen’s Panel of people with experience of poverty and using public transport in Scotland to share their views and shape the Fair Fares Review. The main messages were that people living on low incomes in both urban … Read more

‘You just see the prices go up…’: Families’ experiences of in-work poverty in Scotland and implications for children’s human rights

This policy briefing presents key findings and offers recommendations to policymakers at the mid-point of a three-year action research project on in-work poverty and the hospitality sector – with a particular focus on children and families. This briefing outlines initial considerations towards a comprehensive Scottish policy landscape which delivers children’s rights and tackles child poverty … Read more

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