Challenge Poverty Week - Improvement Service Breakfast Briefings

During Challenge Poverty Week, the Improvement Service Child Poverty Team will be running a series of short Breakfast Briefings exploring the experiences of Scotland’s child poverty priority family groups.

The programme is:

Monday 5 October | Lone parent households
Child poverty, gender and violence against women
Heather Williams, Training Lead at Scottish Women’s Budget Group, and Joanna McLaughlin, Programme Manager for Protecting People at the Improvement Service.

Scottish Women’s Budget Group will explore the links between child poverty, gender and violence against women, highlighting opportunities for local government to develop approaches that can both protect lone-parent families from harm and reduce their risk of financial hardship.

Tuesday 6 October | Migrant households
Tackling the barriers driving poverty for migrant families
Dr Rebecca Kay, Associate Director, Migration Policy Scotland.

Migrant households with children experience particularly high rates of poverty and deep poverty, driven by intersecting issues including restrictions around access to benefits, language barriers, and gaps between specialist and mainstream services. Migration Policy Scotland will share practical tools developed with migrants, community organisations and public services to address these barriers, including resources to support communication, local service needs mapping, financial health checks for migrant service users and migrant-led intercultural communication training.

Wednesday 7 October | Households in which someone is disabled
Disability, additional costs and barriers to employment and services
Karen Wylie, Policy and Participation Officer, Glasgow Disability Alliance.

The session will explore how disability can increase the cost of living and create barriers to employment and access to services, looking at what action is needed locally and nationally. The intended local-government focus is on households where either an adult or child is disabled and the implications for tackling the three drivers of child poverty.

Thursday 8 October | Families with a baby under one
Reducing poverty for families with a baby
Stefanie Keir, Senior Policy & Research Manager, Save the Children.

This session will focus on families with a baby experiencing poverty and the implications of Save the Children’s Better for Babies work for local partners. That work brings together targeted increases in social security with access to whole-family support through trusted practitioners for families with a baby at risk of poverty.

Friday 9 October | Young mothers
Fair work and the employment experiences of young mums
Details TBC.