Open Letter to Shona Robison MSP

Dear Cabinet Secretary,

With the Scottish budget approaching, we are writing to you as parents living in Scotland who are struggling to get by.

We are proud to live in Scotland. Scotland cares deeply about its weans, as shown through support such as Scottish Child Payment and Free School Meals. Living in Scotland often means there is support available that you can’t get elsewhere. In the budget, we need things to see more things done to keep moving in the right direction. Because, for parents living on a low income, life remains incredibly tough.

Many of us are struggling and feel stigmatised, even when we are doing our very best to provide for our families.

We understand there are many areas competing for your attention - schools, healthcare, transport, infrastructure, policing, and funding for grassroots charities, to name but a few. Today, however, we are writing to you with specific requests to help struggling families like ours.

Invest to help us with the cost of children

The cost of raising children is increasing. Even basic things right now add

significant pressure, such as making sure children are warm and fed and have warm coats and jackets. Increasing the Scottish Child Payment to help with these costs would make a meaningful difference to parents like us.

More than just surviving, children deserve to thrive and have fun, play and

adventure. There are often cost barriers to activities, clubs and educational

resources. Many of us, especially parents who live outside cities and towns, rely on public transport that is expensive or not reliable. More investment in youth activities and making sure everyone has the means to access these are important to keep children engaged and nourish their minds.



Providing a hot meal to children every day, regardless of their families financial circumstances, makes a big difference and is a long way from how some of us remember getting free school meals when we were young. However, losing free school meals is a huge worry for parents whose children are above primary 6, especially if they are already struggling with costs. We would like to see funding in the next financial year to expand free school meals for all children regardless of age.

As the cost of living is increasing, we would also like to see the Scottish

Government raise the minimum school clothing grant each year to help families.

Invest to help families with their mental and physical health

Mental health issues are a significant concern for parents on low incomes.

Children need to be supported to express their emotions in a safe and healthy way, and feel positive about their futures. When families do not have enough money, this can have a knock on effect on children’s mental health. Practical steps towards supporting parents to manage better can help children and parent’s mental health in ways that don’t create more pressure on the NHS.

Parents need more support for children with additional support needs or after a health diagnosis as this can be even harder to manage when you are on a low income. In this budget we would like to see more investment in healthcare specifically to cut waiting times and provide more support for parents accessing health services for themselves and their children.

Make sure there is investment to help all children and parents

Many of the parents in our group are asylum seekers or refugees. We know that children are children regardless of their immigration status. It isn’t fair that asylum seeking families should struggle to provide a dignified life for their children. There are things that the Scottish Government can do in this budget to help us, such as reinstating free transport for asylum seekers and refugees. When parents who do not have the right to work or cannot access social security, there needs to be more support available from the Scottish Government so that people do not need to use a food bank and have opportunities to learn and train.

There is much more we could say. Every day we do our best to support our children. In this budget please also do your best to invest for all children because they are the future of Scotland.

If you would like to meet with us to discuss priorities for parents and carers living in Scotland on a low-income please do get in touch.



We look forward to hearing from you.

Parents from the Changing Realities Project

changing-realities-project@york.ac.uk

About Changing Realities

Changing Realities is a project documenting the lived experiences of parents and carers living on low incomes across the UK and developing solutions for change. The project - a collaboration between the University of York, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and parents and carers - provides real-time evidence and insights into the challenges faced by families in Scotland and the UK.