North Ayrshire Council doing its best to combat current issues concerning child poverty and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis

By Jack Meney

North Ayrshire Council are facing widespread challenges around child poverty

North Ayrshire is fighting child poverty as it has the second highest levels in the country, according to councillor Marie Burns.

Statistics from The Centre for Progressive Policy show the recent child poverty rates for Scotland can vary, but it suggests that the percentage of children in relative poverty is likely to be somewhere between 16% and 31%. And the number of children in relative poverty after housing costs is likely to be somewhere between 160,000 and 310,000 children.

During this current cost-of-living crisis and especially after the global COVID-19 pandemic, poverty is worse than ever in North Ayrshire.  They have a child poverty board that is dealing with these issues.

Councillor Marie Burns is the chair of this board and is more than aware of the current issues and has different strategies in place to eradicate these problems.

When discussing the issues that people have getting out of poverty to provide a better lifestyle for their families, councillor Burns said: “[There are] two ways of improving your income when in poverty. One of these options is finding a job that pays well enough, easier said than done when we are talking about fair work and fair pay, or you maximise your benefit entitlement. You make sure that you get access to whatever you are entitled to, but the benefit system is very complicated.

“We have an employability team which helps people access whatever support they need. Sometimes that may be a grant, for example, to help with travel or even clothing, giving them training and giving them support with interview techniques and providing placements for them. Quite often, a lot of the people we help are single parents, who are one of the key areas of people who are dealing with child poverty. We also help with childcare for parents if that’s a factor of them getting back to work.”

Another one of the main issues in terms of poverty in North Ayrshire is access to food. Adults in the area have been affected by the food poverty crisis, evidenced by The Trussell Trust giving out 3,899 food parcels this year compared to 2,116 last year.

Many families are having to turn to charity-run foodbanks or community larders

Burns said: “We have a number of food larders across North Ayrshire and there are quite a few in Irvine. People can go along to the food larder which is slightly different to foodbanks. At the food larders, you pay an amount of money which is around £3 to £4 but they can then pick food that is worth up to four times the amount in value. They must make a contribution, but they are gaining a lot more in return. The council provides money to buy the food, but the larders also rely on donations from local supermarkets.

“We also do work around the cost of the school day. Our schools help provide uniforms, either they buy [the uniforms] themselves with council money or they get donations. If a family is struggling to afford uniforms for the children, they have everything from jackets, shoes and even trainers in some cases. We offer breakfast clubs in cases where the children can’t get a proper breakfast, if their family can’t afford it, they can come into the school in the morning to get a hot roll and a cup of tea before they start for the day.”