The Rural Childcare Challenge
The IS Child Poverty Team have recently published a new blog by James Taylor, Rural Child Poverty Officer, highlighting the critical challenges facing childcare provision across Scotland’s rural and island communities - and why this matters for tackling child poverty. Structural issues such as workforce shortages, dispersed populations and inflexible funding continue to limit access to affordable, flexible childcare, impacting family wellbeing and local economies.
Encouragingly, innovative approaches are emerging, from childminding pilots to transport solutions and integrated care models. Building on this, the Improvement Service is prioritising rural childcare in 2026—working with partners to test solutions and share learning in response to publication of the Scottish Government's latest Child Poverty Delivery Plan Bringing Hope, Building Futures.
This IS will also host a Rural Childcare Sprint Series bringing partners together to focus on delivery, helping turn growing momentum into practical, place-based action. For more information contact James.Taylor@improvementservice.org.uk
SAVVI – New Insight on Data Sharing
In September 2025, the Improvement Service established a dedicated SAVVI (Scalable Approach to Vulnerability Via Interoperability) team to help councils and partners make better use of data to identify and respond to vulnerability. The approach supports earlier, more coordinated interventions by improving how data is shared and understood across organisations.
SAVVI Technical Data Lead Fiona Caryl has now published a new blog exploring why the concepts of person, residence and household are critical to effective data sharing. She highlights how inconsistent definitions and duplicated records across systems make it difficult to link data, even when services are working with the same individuals or places. As Fi notes, “We often focus on tools and solutions when trying to improve data sharing — but many challenges stem from how we structure and define data in the first place.”
The blog sets out a clear way of thinking about these core entities, the role of identifiers, and why getting these foundations right is essential for linking data and enabling more preventative, joined-up support.
Read the full blog: Why person, residence and household matter for public service data sharing
West Lothian Council's 'Unmet Need' Project - A SAVVI learning example
In 2023, West Lothian Council partnered with the Improvement Service to tackle child poverty through a particular approach: targeting families with children who were eligible for financial support but were currently not claiming all their entitlements. The approach drew on learning from earlier Improvement Service intelligence sprints with remote and island councils, as well as replicating aspects of work with the Scottish Borders Council.
The recently published SAVVI learning example gives an overview of the project, details West Lothian Council's remit, as well as data types and data sources used, outreach and support, and challenges and learning.
Child Poverty Peer Support Network
The Child Poverty Peer Support Network met on 9th June with a focus on the new Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, Bringing Hope, Building Futures. The Scottish Government presented on the contents of the delivery plan and progress in relation to it its implementation, and Poverty Alliance presented on the anticipated wider implications of the plan, with a focus on local government impact.
The Scottish Government also presented on LCPAR guidance refresh to complement the new plan, offering practitioners an opportunity to feed into an informal consultation.
Read the briefing sent in advance of the session, and a summary briefing of the session.
Upcoming sessions will focus on:
- August - Households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
- September - Lived experience and stigma
For further information, recordings and notes from previous PSN sessions, including the recent Q&A session with child poverty experts on changes to the child poverty data, contact childpoverty@improvementservice.org.uk.