Archive category: Blog

The Poverty and Inequality Commission has today published a report that reviews progress on the fifteen recommendations made in ‘Shifting the Curve’, the first report by Naomi Eisenstadt in her role as the First Minister’s Independent Advisor on Poverty and Inequality. Overall, our review finds that there has been considerable…

The Commission’s first Annual Public Meeting took place on 21 June. The aim of the event was to consult on future priorities for the work of the Commission and brought together people with lived experience of poverty and inequality and others whose experience comes from service delivery, policy development, or…

‘Child poverty is one of the greatest problems facing my constituency, and being able to discuss genuine ways of improving social mobility for young people with the Poverty and Inequality Commission was fantastic.’ Huw Sherrard MSYP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane. In April we joined the Scottish Youth Parliament’s Social Security…

This guest blog from John H. McKendrick, Professor of Social Justice at Glasgow Caledonian University and co-director of The Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit (SPIRU), welcomes the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s advice on reducing child poverty, and reflects on parts that are specifically relevant to single parent families.…

Responding to the publication today of the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Delivery Plan, Douglas Hamilton, Chair of the Poverty and Inequality Commission said, “Poverty has a firm grip on Scotland. Low pay, high housing costs and insufficient benefits are locking families in a daily struggle to make ends meet. Without…

This guest blog from Professor Stephen Sinclair, co-Director of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University, reflects on the step-change required to deliver the child poverty targets. This blog post also appears on the Policy Scotland website http://policyscotland.gla.ac.uk/blog-child-poverty-pledges-require-bold-action/ To meet its own ambitious child poverty goals,…

In order to inform its advice on the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Delivery Plan, the Poverty and Inequality Commission asked Policy Scotland to review the Scottish Government’s existing work on child poverty to analyse the impact of the work so far and the extent to which it was likely to…

Katie Schmuecker, member of the Poverty and Inequality Commission and Head of Policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, blogs on the Commission’s advice on how to loosen poverty’s grip on children and families in Scotland. This blog post was originally published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/scotlands-chance-ensure-every-child-can-lead-decent-life Scotland should be…

Scotland’s Poverty and Inequality Commission has advised that the Scottish Government will need to make significant use of new social security powers if it is going to meet challenging targets to reduce child poverty. In its first report, Advice on the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2018 published today…

Over the past few months I’ve been working along with my fellow Commissioners to get the work of the Poverty and Inequality Commission underway. I’m delighted that we now have a website where we’ll share our work, ask people to get involved, and also invite other organisations and individuals to…