Spotlight: Eradicating Child Poverty

University of Edinburgh 

• Research at the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with UK-based SME Sunamp Ltd, has contributed to reducing fuel poverty through development of the world’s first commercially viable domestic heat battery which is an energy efficient, sustainable, low-cost alternative to the traditional gas boiler and water tank.  

• Sunamp has worked with UK housing associations to install heat batteries in 1,500 properties. Residents who previously experienced fuel poverty have reported significant improvements to their quality of life. Sunamp limited has created 52 jobs and associated benefits for more than 60 distributors, resellers and installers across the UK, Europe and South Korea. By December 2020, the company had raised investment of £12m, generated total revenue of £10m, and sold 5,000 units (20% internationally).

Heriot-Watt University 

• The Homeless Monitor is a longitudinal study which has provided the evidence for a paradigm shift in Scottish homelessness legislation, supporting radical reforms and embracing a preventative, upstream approach that will extend legal duties beyond housing authorities to health, justice, and social services.  

• This reform means people at risk of homelessness will be assisted before they reach crisis point.  

Oilthigh Ghlaschu 

• Although preventable, tooth decay is strongly linked to socioeconomic and health inequalities, with associated symptoms and hospital admissions potentially limiting educational attendance and attainment. 

• Research led by the University of Glasgow Dental School supported the development, implementation and evaluation of Childsmile, initially a pilot programme designed to improve the oral health of children in areas of Glasgow on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, later rolled out across the country with NHS Scotland.  

• Since implementation in 2006, dental decay in children from the most severely deprived backgrounds has experienced a striking reduction and rates of tooth decay among 5-year-olds in Scotland overall have fallen by 43%.  

University of Stirling 

• University of Stirling led research underpins the ‘Food for Thought’ project. Working with carers, staff in foster care settings and those charged with monitoring care, Food for Thought has shifted attitudes and practices toward food in care environments to the therapeutic rather than just the nutritional in Scotland, UK and world-wide.  

• This has put the child and their needs at the centre of food routines and practices, enlightened and built relationships, and so supported children in care to grow and learn in a supportive environment 

University of Strathclyde 

• Research undertaken at University of Strathclyde has demonstrated the business case for paying a real Living Wage, providing evidence that Living Wage accreditation enhances financial and social capital for employers as well as improving the pay and conditions for low paid workers who are at most risk from in-work poverty.  

• The business case has been used by the Living Wage Foundation since 2015 to persuade employers to adopt the Living Wage and ‘the number of accredited Living Wage employers has risen from around 1000 to almost 7,000 across the UK, including over 40% of the FTSE 100’ which ‘has led to pay rises for over 240,000 employees and put £1bn back into the pockets of low paid workers’ Living Wage Foundation 2020. 

University of Glasgow 

• Researchers within the Just cities and societies cluster in University of Glasgow have a shared commitment to highlighting dimensions of inequity and inequality, and advancing and evaluating policy interventions which seek more just outcomes. Research has resulted in diverse positive outcomes.  

• Glasgow’s findings showed the link between families receiving social security benefits and debt to public sector entities. Over 30,000 children in Scotland were affected by school lunch arrears alone. The findings were influential in informing Scottish Government’s decision to wipe out existing school meal arrears benefitting struggling families.  

• Research into the design and implementation of Universal Credit, revealed new financial risks that deepen and extend poverty, and increase the risk of destitution, for example through excessive charges to call the national helpline. Research findings directly impacted a policy change to make the helpline free to use allowing claimants to use their limited income on essentials such as food, rent and energy bills.  

University of the West of Scotland 

• Bullying and poverty-related stigma have detrimental impacts on the mental health of both children and adults. Research by UWS and partners highlighted the mental health impacts of poverty stigma, and the need for anti-stigma interventions to challenge negative attitudes and reduce individuals’ exposure to poverty stigma.   

• UWS research on anti-bullying led to development of a first-of-its-kind whole-school programme to prevent bullying motivated by prejudice. This work further informed the national anti-bullying campaign, ‘Choose Respect’, to help increase empathy among children and young people.   

University of Dundee 

• The University of Dundee Opioids in Pregnancy Study explores the impact of exposure to opioids in pregnancy on the health, education, and social outcomes of children and young people.  

• Children born to women who use opioids are among the most vulnerable in society. They are more likely to live in poverty, to be removed from their parent’s care and to experience a parental drug related death.  There is also some evidence that children exposed to opioids may experience poorer developmental, social and behavioural outcomes, and may have particular challenges with areas such as vision.   

• This study will not only provide evidence to help women and families make informed decisions about their choices during pregnancy but also provide powerful and robust data on the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in Scotland 

Robert Gordon University 

• Current research led by RGU aims to find out how cost of living pressures are impacting household food budgets and infant feeding decisions specifically, particularly in the first 0-6 months.  

• The most recent First Steps Nutrition report highlighted that the cost of infant formula has grown exponentially in the last 18 months which is deeply concerning from a public health perspective, given that many UK families will rely on infant formula to feed their babies at some point.   

• The outcomes of this research and report will be used to inform politicians, policy makers and key stakeholders at a local and national level, including the food industry, third sector organisations, and health and social care professionals, on how best to support food insecure parents and babies at this critical time. 

University of Dundee 

• One consequence of child poverty is a greater incidence of delayed and disordered language development. Unless detected and acted upon, weak language skills adversely affect later development and life outcomes including health, social integration and academic attainment.  

• Early intervention is essential for positive outcomes and the Early Language in Play Settings (eLIPS), informed by University of Dundee research and developed in conjunction with early years educators in Fife Council, provides a reliable method for screening for language difficulty creating the opportunity for earlier intervention to reduce language inequalities. 

• eLIPS has been adopted in all Fife nurseries and family centres and the consequent increase in practitioner awareness of language development through using eLIPS enhances the quality of educational provision for all children. Work is ongoing to produce a digital version which will be made widely available. 

Abertay University 

• People with lower socio-economic status, such as those living in poverty, tend to have poorer numerical skills which can have long term negative consequences, in terms of both economic potential, and wider quality of life. Supporting numeracy development in childhood can therefore impact lifetime economic empowerment.  

• At Abertay University, psychological research has focused on two aspects of this issue: identifying the factors that affect children’s numeracy learning, and applying cognitive strategies to support numeracy learning in the classroom. Following two cohorts of children through the first three years of primary school researchers developed strategies to reduce anxiety and improve skills.  

• These strategies have been disseminated via classroom activity packs and through workshops to teachers and educators nationally, as well as working with external bodies to produce educational resources. 

University of Aberdeen 

• The cost of school uniforms is an important issue for children living in poverty and the inability to afford the required uniform can impact on children and young people’s ability to access education.  

• Research, led by University of Aberdeen, found that 96% of secondary schools in Scotland have a compulsory uniform, with almost 20% specifying an exclusive supplier. While £22.5 million in clothing grants was paid out by local authorities during the 2021-22 school year, the research showed that grants are unlikely to meet the typical costs of uniform and there was significant variation in the levels of grant above the national minimum, meaning that young people’s right to education could be jeopardised by rising school uniform costs and a ‘postcode lottery’ of financial aid accessible from local authorities.  

• In response to recommendations arising from this study the Scottish Government has developed national guidance for local authorities and schools to support affordable, comfortable and sustainable school uniforms. 

University of Strathclyde 

• Research led by the University of Strathclyde found that the gap between children from low-income and high-income households starts early and, in most cases, widens as children go through the education system, and that this educational attainment difference had a significant impact on progression in education, staying-on rates, and labour market outcomes.  

• Recommendations arising from the research informed the Scottish Government’s 2015 amendment to the Education (Scotland) Bill and subsequently the 2016 Act, which required Local Authorities to report the extent of the poverty-related attainment gap and efforts to reduce it, a £750 million Attainment Fund for schools, and a National Improvement Framework providing practitioner guidance.  

• Further research has revealed that these interventions have led to significantly increase in pupil attainment and a reduction in the poverty-related attainment gap. 

University of Edinburgh 

• The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, has studied pathways into and out of offending amongst a cohort of approximately 4,300 young people who started secondary education in 1998.  

• The longitudinal study examined the experiences and behaviours of this group of children as they grew up and became adults. The findings show how a complex range of social and societal factors including childhood adversities such as poverty and bullying and harassment are linked to an individual’s likelihood of persistent serious offending. The study demonstrates that keeping young people who committed offences out of the formal youth justice system, and in mainstream education, for as long as possible is important and effective to reduce reoffending.   

• The study has underpinned a series of policy changes and incremental adjustments in the Scottish approach to youth justice, including the Scottish Prison Service’s Vision for Young People in Custody and the Scottish Government’s Youth Justice Strategy 2015-2020, the introduction of a Whole Systems Approach to dealing with children and young people involved in offending, as well as raising of the Age of Criminal Responsibility (ACR) in Scotland from 8 to 12 years. Together, these contributed to a 34 per cent fall in youth convictions, and a 45 per cent fall in imprisonment for young people (with rates at their lowest level for at least 50 years), between 2015 and 2020.