£500k in lifeline funds pulled 1000 families from brink of financial disaster in just four weeks

Aberlour has given lifeline funds to more than 1000 families in the past months to pull them back from the brink of financial crisis.

The money has helped around 2000 children across Scotland but charities say more must be done for long-term support.

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Funds were part of a £10 million package announced by the Scottish Government to be shared between charities and government agencies to ease child poverty.

Justina Murray, chief executive of Aberlour, said the extra funding for the charity’s Urgent Assistance Fund (UAF) has provided short-term help but has been an opportunity to underpin the stability and security of families.

She said: “Our immediate priority was to ensure every pound of this funding was used most effectively to help families facing financial catastrophe right now.

“These payments must avert financial crisis in the very short-term but can also, importantly, help families stabilise and find their feet again.

“This money is a lifeline but remains only short-term relief and, when today’s emergency is averted, we must offer practical, life-changing support for families tomorrow and the days after that.”

However, Ms Murray added that “crisis care is not enough”.

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“As a country, we must do more to raise our families out of poverty for good,” she said.

Some 1072 families have been helped since January, which includes 1341 adults and 1958 children.

Now Aberlour, which provides frontline support for families across Scotland, is calling on party leaders and candidates in the Holyrood elections to prioritise ending child poverty by backing policies including the strengthening of Scotland’s social security system.

The charity wants an immediate increase to the Scottish Child Payment to at least £40 per week and rising to £55 by 2031.

The charity, which will invite candidates to a hustings for young people during the campaign, is also urging newly-elected MSPs to overhaul the collection of public debt, such as council tax and rent arrears.

It claims the current system is far too harsh on Scotland’s most disadvantaged families, with some debt recovery systems helping trap children in poverty.

Almost £164,000 of the extra funding for Aberlour’s Urgent Assistance Fund, announced by ministers in January, has helped relieve debt with the rest being awarded in crisis payments and top-up grants.

The emergency grants have helped ease household financial crises across Scotland but most - 42 per cent - has been delivered in Glasgow.

Research last year revealed child poverty is still rising in Scotland’s biggest city where one in four young people are living in families where income is below 40 per cent of the national median.

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Since 2021, the charity, delivering frontline care and support for families and children, has distributed more than £3m from the fund with the majority of applicants seeking help to buy food, clothing and heating.

The average payment was £236 last year.

Ms Murray, who joined Aberlour last year, said: “These payments are relatively small, a few hundred pounds, but can mean children will not go to bed cold or to school hungry.

“Many families are living from pound to pound and a single unexpected bill, for a broken washing

machine or bedding damaged by damp, can topple them into crisis.

“Our teams offer a whole range of practical assistance and emotional support but, at times of absolute need, families require money most urgently.

“These crisis payments can literally keep the lights on for families and give them a chance, with our support, to find a more solid footing.”

The emergency funding became available after First Minister John Swinney confirmed £10m originally earmarked to support the two-child limit mitigation payment in Scotland would be reallocated to tackling child poverty.