Exclusive:Surge in emergency payments as Scottish children's charity wants two-child benefit cap scrapped
Calls for ‘life-changing reforms’ ahead of next week’s key Budget
A leading children’s charity in Scotland has reported a surge in emergency payments to help some of the nation’s poorest families afford essentials, as Rachel Reeves was urged to scrap the two-child benefit cap in next week’s Budget.
Aberlour Children’s Charity said it approved £378,00 in emergency payments via its urgent assistance fund in the year to the end of October. This was a 17 per cent rise compared to the previous 12-month period.
The charity’s chief executive Justina Murray warned the escalating demand for crisis payments comes as Aberlour’s frontline teams report more of Scotland’s poorest families being trapped in poverty for longer.
Ms Murray said: “The applications reveal how a single unexpected bill, a broken washing machine, for example, or bedding damaged by damp, can mean calamity for a family. Many families are balanced on the thinnest tightrope and the smallest breeze is a serious risk.
“Our urgent assistance most often involves relatively small sums, a few hundred pounds. But this can mean the difference between children going to bed fed and warm or cold and hungry.
“Our frontline teams offer a whole range of practical assistance and emotional support, but, at times of absolute crisis, those families need money most urgently of all.”
Ms Murray called on the Chancellor to scrap the two-child benefit cap and deliver other “life changing reforms”.
“Repairing the damage done by punitive benefit cuts to our poorest families is crucial,” she said. “In the short term, limiting benefits to two children might have saved money, but this has cost our country far more in the poverty inflicted, young lives harmed and futures sabotaged.”
The Scottish Government plans to effectively scrap the benefits cap from March via a new benefit. Subject to parliamentary approval, the SNP administration said the two-child limit payment will be worth £292 a month for eligible recipients, and will keep around 20,000 children out of relative poverty next year.
There has been speculation that Ms Reeves plans to end the two-child cap, with Scotland’s social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville calling on her to take action.
She said: “The UK government must fully scrap the two-child limit and the benefit cap as soon as possible. These policies should be confined to the darkest days of austerity and the UK Budget must bring this period to an end.”
It comes as Aberlour launches its winter appeal, with every pound donated going on urgent assistance for families. The crisis fund has delivered almost £4 million of emergency payments, with the majority of applications seeking help to buy food, clothing and heating.
Ms Murray added: “Our teams work with families every day and are seeing poverty becoming even more entrenched. To raise families out of poverty for good needs more action and more urgency.
“That demands more than good intentions and passionate speeches. It demands practical action shaped by frontline expertise, and backed by resource and ambition.”
Ms Murray said the priority for policy makers was to swiftly roll out effective services capable of making the most difference to whole families in the long term.
She said: “There is a lot of talk about child poverty, but policy discussions often fail to reflect the day to day reality of families and the urgency of the situation.”
A UK government spokesperson said: “We have secured for Scotland the largest real-terms settlement in the history of devolution, delivering a record annual figure of £50.9 billion, for spending on policies that are key levers to tackling child poverty including housing, education, childcare, debt advice and employability.”
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