When we set out our strategic priorities in 2023, the pandemic had exacerbated poverty and inequality, which had been further compounded by the cost-of-living crisis. We knew that given our range of improvement work across interlinked policy areas, the Improvement Service was uniquely placed to work with local government to tackle poverty and inequality. We set the strategic priority:
We will provide leadership and facilitate collaboration to enable a more preventative, integrated approach to tackling poverty and inequality
6th – 12th October is Challenge Poverty Week 2025. Throughout the week the Child Poverty & SAVVI team and Research team are hosting a series of bite sized, data focused sessions to deepen understanding of how local authorities and their partners across Scotland are using data to understand and reduce poverty. Our Democratic Governance team is also hosting a Tackling Child Poverty webinar as part of the Elected Member Development Programme, which will focus on the vital work being carried out by councils and health boards to address child poverty and what more can be done to take a long term preventative approach.
Through many of our programmes, we’re supporting local authorities and their partners to deliver whole systems, place-based and rights-based approaches to tackle inequality and prevent poverty. As part of Challenge Poverty Week, I’d like to highlight some of the poverty work Improvement Service is delivering and supporting.
Data, intelligence and digital public services
In 2024, we won a LARIA Award for our work with West Lothian Council to identify unmet need. By combining and analysing publicly available and council held data, we were able to use analytical insights and local knowledge to create a model showing places where support entitlement is not reaching those in need. The success of this project led to a successful bid to the Child Poverty Accelerator Fund to build on the project by exploring new datasets to be included in the analysis, presenting the analysis in a more engaging way, and allowing the lessons to be put into practice.
This year, with funding from Scottish Government, we have established a SAVVI team for Scotland. SAVVI (Scalable Approach to Vulnerability Via Interoperability) transformative approach that enables councils and their partners to proactively identify and support vulnerable people before they reach crisis point—not just when they’re facing the consequences.
Building from the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Approach, we have been supporting Clyde Gateway as part of the Glasgow Fairer Futures Partnership, formerly referred to as the Child Poverty Pathfinder within the Calton Ward in Glasgow, particularly in considering the impact of the Programme on the wider community and contribution towards the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes in the area. The project is taking a place-based approach to identify how four key enablers such as childcare, English for Speakers of Other languages (ESOL), community engagement and employer engagement, contribute to people getting into sustainable employment. This is part of the Demonstration of Change for tackling child poverty in the Calton Ward and tests of change are currently being implemented to better understand this. The project is using data profiles for local areas to understand the place, and developing ways to monitor and evaluate the proposed tests of change.
Funded childcare is an important piece in the national mission of eradicating child poverty. We continue to support councils in increasing the uptake of funded families by providing tailored, bespoke support to councils while recognising the value of integrating funded childcare with broader family support services. And with a data sharing agreement with the Department of Work and Pensions this work is enhanced by information on the families that are eligible for funded childcare, delivered to councils through our DataPipeline.scot.
Since its launch in 2022, we have supported the delivery of Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme through getyournec.scot. The Scheme aims to encourage more sustainable travel and tackle issues related to transport poverty while opening up social, education, employment and leisure opportunities to young people across the country. 1.2m young people now have access to National Entitlement Cards (NEC) for free travel.
Facilitating networks and promoting innovative approaches
Throughout our programmes we facilitate networks, bringing local authorities and partners together on specific policy agendas and provide safe spaces for colleagues to share their challenges and successes. Networks we support include Local Child Poverty Action Reports, UNCRC Implementation, Employability, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Community Planning Partnerships.
As part of our support for Local Action on Child Poverty, we recently published informal analysis of best practice and learning from Year 6 of the Local Child Poverty Action Reports.
From hosting thematic workshops across a range of employability priorities, to facilitating a self-assessment across all 32 Local Employability Partnerships to shape local improvement, we are fully involved in leading activity to deliver against the actions in the joint Scottish and Local Government Employability Strategic Plan to strengthen the wider employability system.
Examining policies through a poverty and inequality lens
This year we started the Human Rights Capability Project to actively support local authorities across Scotland to build their capabilities regarding human rights. This new project aims to provide dedicated guidance and materials for local authorities to use to build human rights into everyday policy and practice.
Through our Community Wealth Building Project, we’re facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration between community wealth building practitioners, as well as delivering a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of CWB implementation across Scotland while strengthening connections between CWB and other policy areas.
We also recently published a briefing calling for local authorities to integrate climate action with poverty reduction strategies. Climate change intensifies child poverty by disrupting food supplies, increasing health risks, and displacing vulnerable households. Well-designed climate actions can deliver co-benefits, such as warmer homes, cleaner air, and green job opportunities, while lifting families out of poverty.
Similarly, work is being undertaken to demonstrate the links between planning decisions and child poverty reduction. Tackling child poverty requires a whole systems approach, and planning professionals play an important role in delivering long-term solutions for poverty prevention. At a national level, the heads of planning are providing input into the next Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. To further support increased local partnership, child poverty leads from local authorities are meeting with their planning colleagues at a collaborative webinar on October 23rd to discuss connections between their work.