Poverty in Scotland: A discussion with JRF on progress pre, during and post Covid-19 [Podcast] EP24

At the end of the parliamentary year, we would normally have received a progress report form the Scottish Government on their efforts to tackle child poverty and how they are making progress towards the statutory child poverty targets. The report has been postponed indefinitely, but this doesn’t mean that work hasn’t been ongoing, albeit there is yet little movement in the child poverty rates to report yet.

In this podcast, we discuss what drives poverty, how actions were shaping up pre-Covid and new JRF research which looks at the impact on people on low incomes so far in this crisis. As well as discussing what governments can do in the here and now, we also look ahead to the next Scottish election and some of the longer term policy development that will be required.

You can find more information on the new research published by JRF, which included a survey of 2000 Scottish households here: https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/almost-third-scots%E2%80%99-incomes-have-reduced-lockdown-half-affected-renters-worried-about-paying

Timestamps
(1:51) How was progress on tackling child poverty in particular looking pre-Covid, Jim
(5:40) What do we know about the impact of Covid on those on low incomes, Deborah
(13:14) In terms of social security, what has happened and what needs to happen to cope with the fallout of Covid-19, Jim
(20:49) How has housing policy developed over the past decade, and what opportunities are there now, Deborah
(29:00) Priorities for the Scottish election and cross UK action, Jim and Deborah