Desperate families need help from a second Winter Support Fund - Paul Carberry

Any sense of optimism coming into this year’s festive season following the pandemic has gradually crumbled as Scotland and the rest of the UK has sunk deeper into the cost-of-living crisis. Everyone is feeling the strain of this situation but the most vulnerable families face a harrowing winter unless more is done to help them. Action for Children, and many other charities, have seen record referrals and our ability to reach those most in need will be determined by the Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling poverty.

The cost-of-living crisis has been a constant topic in the news cycle this year and the forecast surrounding the situation as winter approaches is looking harrowing, to say the least. Many families in Scotland will suffer as energy bills skyrocket, leaving them with painful decisions about whether they feed the energy meter or their family. This will undoubtedly have a devastating impact on Scotland’s ability to hit its child poverty targets and will only exacerbate the lasting damage to children brought up in this climate.

Action for Children’s own crisis fund has been invaluable in allowing the charity to reach and respond to the families who have been hardest hit since the onset of the pandemic. We began this emergency funding in March 2020 and since then we have spent over £320k in Scotland helping 2,274 families and 4,037 Children.

The Scottish Government’s Winter Support Fund last has been a lifeline for many families and has helped better equip charities across Scotland to respond to unprecedented challenges we have faced. We welcome the Scottish Government’s actions to date to tackle this challenge, including the significant investment in the Scottish Child Payment which Action for Children, along with a coalition of other charities campaigned for.

Paul Carberry, Action for Children Director.

While the Covid levels have reduced, we now face another challenge on scale with the pandemic and the level of support should reflect this. The Scottish Government’s £41m Winter Support Fund last year was a lifeline for many families and, sadly, the need for this crucial support has not lessened.

Action for Children’s frontline staff are seeing more and more frightened families reaching crisis point. Parents are reaching out to our services in tears, overwhelmed by concerns about how they are going to meet their most basic of needs. Many of these families have already cut back to the bone and have nowhere left to cut.

Every penny from our own crisis fund goes towards helping children and families and the events and campaigns which feed into our this fund have been vital in allowing our frontline staff to provide the financial, practical and emotional support these families need. This can only go so far though which is why we have been campaigning for the Scottish Government to invest in a Winter Support Fund as it did in 2021.

Recently Action for Children joined forces with seven other charities across Scotland to send an open letter to the First Minister imploring the Scottish government to invest in another Winter Support Fund. We are not ignoring the need for action from the UK government, and we have been pushing the UK government to take similar and immediate action, but we as a charity have a duty to Scotland’s children and families to ensure their voice is heard and the foundation of all our campaigning is based on the needs of children and families.

Paul Carberry, Action for Children Director for Scotland.