New briefings published by the Improvement Service are highlighting Glasgow’s pioneering work to tackle child poverty through public service reform.
Produced in partnership with the Glasgow Child Poverty Programme and the Scottish Government, the briefing series captures key learning from Glasgow’s ambitious city-wide initiative, which is testing new approaches to reducing child and family poverty through systemic change.
The publications explore some of the Programme’s key "game changers", including the use of data and evidence, innovation and improvement methods, and the role of culture and leadership in driving change across public services.
Launched as a Pathfinder in 2022, the Glasgow Child Poverty Programme is a ten-year initiative bringing together partners from across the city to address the complex causes of child poverty. Building on lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Glasgow Vision and early multi-agency collaboration, the Programme takes a hypothesis-led, evidence-driven approach to designing and testing interventions that can deliver lasting change for families.
Over the past three years, a growing multidisciplinary team has worked across organisational boundaries to identify and tackle systemic barriers that contribute to poverty, while also rethinking how services are designed and delivered.
The briefings highlight the value of applying a public service reform lens to child poverty, helping organisations understand how wider systems change can support prevention, whole-family support and place-based approaches to improving outcomes. They also explore the opportunities and challenges involved in delivering long-term change at scale.
Laura James, Programme Manager at the IS, said:
"We are really pleased to be able to share this learning from Glasgow with partners across Scotland. The briefings show the breadth and depth of learning from Glasgow's Child Poverty Programme.
“In particular, the briefings highlight the work Glasgow has done to identify the enabling conditions and systemic barriers in tackling child poverty, and how they've applied this learning to embed meaningful and sustainable change, with the ultimate aim of improving outcomes for families and children experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, child poverty.
“We are particularly pleased to share this work as much of the learning echoes that of all the Fairer Futures Partnerships across Scotland, of which Glasgow is one."
Councillor Ricky Bell, Depute Leader of the Council, City Treasurer and City Convener for Financial Inclusion, said:
“Glasgow is proud to be a forerunner in tackling the system barriers preventing children and families in poverty from receiving the services available to them.
“Working with partners, we have undertaken innovative research to identify better approaches to reach these families, and we are already putting these approaches into practice in wards including Govan and Drumchapel.
“I am confident that the learnings uncovered in the Glasgow Child Poverty Programme will contribute to long-term positive changes to the systems that are in place, and result in more practical and accessible support for those who need it.”
The briefing series is now available:
- Exec Summary
- The Change Process and the Innovation and Learning Framework
- Overview of Learning
- Following the Evidence and Data Sharing
- Community Planning, Glasgow’s Community Plan and the Performance Framework
- Overview Timeline
- Detailed Timeline
For more information, contact psr@improvementservice.org.uk.