Concerning child poverty figures criticised by Ayrshire MSP
Carol Mochan MSP has decried the new statistics
Shocking child poverty statistics have been condemned by an MSP.
New statistics reveal that 6314 children -27.2 per cent- are living in poverty within East Ayrshire.
That figure stands at 4807- 24.4 per cent of children- in South Ayrshire.
The research by Loughborough University, on behalf of the End Child Poverty coalition, says that levels of child poverty remained “unacceptably high” across Scotland and the rest of the UK.
The Child Poverty Act 2017 set a mandatory target of reducing child poverty to 18 per cent by next year and 10 per cent by 2030.
On the current trajectory South and East Ayrshire have very little chance of meeting this target, according to South Scotland Labour MSP Carol Mochan.
Ms Mochan said: “This is the biggest issue facing our society and yet I hear so little about it from those in power. We cannot keep coming back year after year to see statistics that show thousands of children are struggling so badly and do so little to address it.
“Everyone with any sort of influence bears the responsibility to fix this and we must immediately reconsider just how little help we provide those at the thin end of the wedge here in South and East Ayrshire and across Scotland. The Scottish Child Payment is simply not enough.”
