Renfrewshire Council

The three key drivers of child poverty are identified by the Scottish Government as:

• income from employment
• costs of living
• income from social security and benefits in kind.

In Renfrewshire, focussing efforts on these drivers as well as enhancing children's wellbeing, and supporting them to achieve their potential and avoid becoming parents in poverty in the future will help mitigate the consequences of poverty both in the short and longer term.

Priority Groups

Best Start, Bright Futures builds on action delivered through the first tackling child poverty delivery plan: Every Child, Every Chance. This plan identified six priority family types that face additional barriers to moving out of poverty:

• lone parents  (38%)
• families that include a disabled adult or child (29%)
• large families with three or more children (32%)
• minority ethnic families (38%)
• youngest child is under 1 year old (34%)
• young mothers aged under 25 years old (55%)

Focus continues on these priority families as reporting continues to show that almost 90% of all children in poverty in Scotland live within the six priority family types.