Scourge of child poverty remains significant in Borders

by DOUG COLLIE

The level of child poverty in the Scottish Borders continues to be challenging despite the best efforts of local agencies to tackle the issue with a significant number of youngsters going to bed feeling hungry, and "unrelenting demands" on the region's homelessness service.

A new report assembled by Scottish Borders Council shows the number of children living in low income families has risen from 2,740 in 2021 to 3,690 in 2023, an increase of almost 35 per cent. However, the overall percentage in the Borders (19.7% of all children) remains lower than the Scottish average of 21.3%. When housing costs are added into the equation the Borders figure goes up to 23%.

And, according to the report: "8.2% of our children in Primary 7 to Secondary 6 state that they always or often go to bed feeling hungry".

The council ward with the highest levels of child poverty is Hawick and Denholm, which contains one of the region’s areas of highest Multiple Deprivation. Selkirkshire and Galashiels and District also contain deprived areas, indicating that child poverty is strongly linked with deprivation, as is to be expected.

"Apart from having the highest levels of relative child poverty BHC (before housing costs), Hawick and Denholm has also seen the biggest increase in numbers of families living with child poverty since the previous year. Interestingly, the other Hawick ward [Hawick and Hermitage] has seen a decrease in child poverty, showing that there is a complex situation with a lot of inequality within the town."

A number of initiatives have been introduced in a bid to reverse the current trend. As the report points out, significant Scottish Borders Council budgets and funding are attributed to tackling child poverty locally. 

Funding in 2024/25 includes the following sums: Crisis grants £156,000; School clothing grants £390,800; Free sanitary products in schools £44,000; Free sanitary products in public bodies £50,000; Educational Maintenance Allowance £237,070; Pupil Equity Funding £1,919,000; Strategic Equity Fund £448,171; Care experienced Children and Young People Fund £159,250; Whole Family Wellbeing Fund £661,000 - Total - £4,065,291. 

A section of the report covering housing says that over the past 18 months the council's homeless service has been experiencing unrelenting demand from applicants – particularly from the private rented sector. This has increased the demand for temporary accommodation. 

"There is a shortage of new build private supply, few starter and smaller homes for purchasing or downsizing and little opportunity for family accommodation. The lack of supply is increasing the demand on the service.

"The demand for homes over the past few years has increased significant with many contributing factors: Supply of homes cannot keep pace with demand; There has been a significant increase in property values, at a rate well above national and local wage inflation; There is a smaller percentage of housing stock available as socially rented accommodation; Construction prices have increased significantly since 2021".

The average number of bids per available social rented property has doubled over the last 5 years – particularly in large family homes. For example, Scottish Borders Housing Association‘s new homes in Kelso this year had 100 bids for five family size homes.

And the report warns: "Despite successful delivery of the Strategic Housing Investment Programme over recent years and delivery of affordable housing, it remains challenging to deliver new build social rented stock at the necessary volume. The Borders is faced with high construction costs, often significant infrastructure requirements, labour and contractor shortages and increasing finance costs. The Affordable Housing Supply Programme Funding allocation for the Borders has been reduced by 26% for 2024/2025 which will have a detrimental impact on the delivery of new affordable homes. 

The number of Borders households likely to be classed as suffering fuel poverty makes for grim reading.

According to the council: "The 2021 and 2022 Scottish updates on fuel poverty - the 2021 update found that 19.6% of households in Scotland were estimated to be in fuel poverty, but that was very likely to be an underestimate. The initial observations from the 2022 data show that the fuel poverty rate has risen to 31% in Scotland, which is a more credible increase on the 24.6% 2019 revised figure for Scotland. We would expect the rate in Scottish Borders to be about 4 percentage points above the Scottish average, meaning that it could now be as high as 35% in Scottish Borders."

On a more positive note, the report sets out a number of success stories involving a Financial Inclusion Team which secured more than £1 million in financial gains for Borders families in 2023/24. Here are four of the case studies outlined in the report.

Case one - A referral was received for a young person after concerns were raised by a key worker. This led to a conversation with their parent who was struggling to support the young person and their two siblings. After a benefits check was completed, Best Start Grant, Best Start Foods, Council Tax Reductions, Child Benefit, Universal Credit and Carers Allowance were awarded. The young person was awarded Educational Maintenance Allowance and the support provided an increase of over £7,000 per year in additional household income. 

Case two - A single parent lived with their teenage child in a poorly maintained private let. They had not worked for over eight years and on being offered a job were concerned about losing their benefits. They received support from the team to apply for Universal Credit, Scottish Child Payment and Discretionary Housing Payment which meant they would be over £100 per week better off. Once the parent settled into the post, they received advice which led to them working overtime and starting a second job. They were also signposted to support regarding their tenancy which led to several repairs being carried out on the property. 

Case three - A single disabled mother with two disabled children was living in a very rural area in the Borders. A Health Visitor immediately recognised that the family were living in extreme poverty and had never claimed any benefits so contacted the Early Years Financial Inclusion team. A full benefits package was immediately arranged including many disability elements for both the mother and the children. In the end this amounted to an increase in income of over £20,000 a year and the family were able to enjoy a much more fulfilling life. 

Case four - A single parent with two children had their benefits cancelled by HMRC and ordered to pay back over £30,000. Her physical and mental health deteriorated, and she was encouraged by her Health Visitor to get assistance. The Early Years Financial Inclusion team provided support, and the benefits were eventually reinstated resulting in the overpayment being cleared and a backdated payment of over £8,000 being made.