Families and households across Scotland will receive more support to cover life’s essentials and cope with emergencies, following a major funding announcement by First Minister John Swinney.
The Scottish Government has confirmed that £10 million, originally earmarked for the two-child limit mitigation payment in 2025-26, will instead be redirected to tackling child poverty and providing urgent financial assistance.
The majority of the funding will be split between charities and government programmes offering emergency support:
- £5.5 million for the Scottish Welfare Fund, administered by local authorities, to provide emergency grants for people on low incomes facing crisis, homelessness or caring challenges.
- £0.55 million for Aberlour Children’s Charity and £1.5 million for Children 1st, boosting emergency support for families in crisis.
- £1.5 million for the Corra Foundation to distribute additional emergency funds through local organisations.
An additional £1 million will support key strands of the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026, including parental employability schemes, investment in the King’s Trust NHS employability programmes, and targeted support for households experiencing homelessness.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney said:
“When I became First Minister, I said that I will pursue priorities that will make Scotland the best our country can be, and the most important priority that I have pursued in government has been that of eradicating child poverty.
“We have made progress. Scotland is the only part of the UK where relative child poverty rates fell in the last year. Our investment in a more dignified and generous social security system, funded childcare, free school meals and free bus travel for under-22s is putting more money in families’ pockets.
“However, as we start 2026, there are still far too many children in Scotland growing up hungry, or cold, and unable to reach their full potential. That is unacceptable.
“Today’s announcement will provide some immediate short-term relief for individuals and families facing the most challenging of circumstances. Our local authorities and charities have well-established means of getting support out quickly to people in need.
“Next week we will set out in more detail our intention to put tackling child poverty at the heart of the next Scottish Budget and I look forward to unveiling landmark interventions to drive this work forward.”
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