7,000 West Dunbartonshire families receiving anti-poverty payment amid “shameful” child poverty levels

By Bill Heaney

Jesus, Mary and Joseph were poor. Two thousand years later there are thousands of families living in the same straitened conditions as the Holy Family.

New statistics reveal over 7,000 West Dunbartonshire families receiving anti-poverty payment amid “shameful” child poverty levels. 

And more than 10,000 children in Scotland are living in a house they can’t call home — temporary accommodation is what politicians conveniently call it.

No child, so far as we know, has been born in a stable. Not yet.

Now, just before we celebrate Christmas, local Green MSP Ross Greer has hit out at ‘disgraceful’ levels of child poverty as he published new figures showing that 7,140 children in West Dunbartonshire are receiving the Scottish Child Payment (SCP). 

Worth £26.70 per child each week or almost £1,400 per year, the Scottish Child Payment goes to families receiving certain benefits, such as Universal Credit to help with the cost of raising children.

It was introduced at £10 a week in 2021, and then raised repeatedly as part of an agreement between the Scottish Greens and Scottish Government. 

The SCP has been described as ‘game-changing’ by child poverty experts and is estimated to be keeping around 50,000 children and their families out of poverty across Scotland. 

Commenting on the new statistics, West Dunbartonshire’s Green MSP Ross Greer MSP, right, said: “In the face of shamefully high levels of child poverty I am glad that 7,140 local children and their families in West Dunbartonshire are supported by our Scottish Child Payment.

“No child should grow up in poverty – I’m proud that a key legacy of the Greens’ time in Government was the almost tripling of financial support for families through the Scottish Child Payment. 

“The UK is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is scandalous that we have a quarter of a million children living in poverty here in Scotland.

“The new Labour Government was supposed to bring in progressive change. Instead they have doubled down on cruel Tory policies like the two child benefit cap and rape clause, which keep children in poverty. 

“While the most powerful tools to tackle child poverty sit at Westminster, I’m proud that the Scottish Greens have secured transformational changes using the limited powers available to Holyrood, paid for by increasing tax on the highest earners.”