Scotland improves wrap-around support for families

More than £1.5 million of funding has been provided by the Scottish government for five new place-based partnerships to tackle child poverty.

Innovative approaches to providing families with locally-based wrap-around support will be backed in five more areas as part of £1.57 million of additional investment this financial year.

The Fairer Futures Partnerships will ensure services are integrated to help families where and when they need it. The partnerships will build on the learning from three pathfinder projects in Dundee, Glasgow and Clackmannanshire. 

In Dundee and Glasgow, these have seen key-workers helping at-risk families and ‘walking alongside’ them until the right services or support have been identified and provided, and changing the way services are offered.

In Clackmannanshire, activities have focused on supporting the community around the child, using schools as anchor points for breakfast clubs, after-school childcare, holiday provision, food services, childcare support and transportation to support holistic child development and family wellbeing.

The five new partnerships are in Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Aberdeen and Perth and Kinross.

Social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said" “Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish government’s single greatest priority, but this relies on the contribution of many partners.

“Five additional ‘Fairer Futures’ partnerships within local authorities will now be established.

"We know families will only be able to thrive if they have access to the right support at the right time. Designing services around people’s needs means they work better for low-income families, for example to help maximise their incomes, support parents into work and improve the overall wellbeing of families.

“We want to work together with local government to deliver our shared priorities, which include tackling child poverty, to embed this model of whole family support with the potential for this to continue to be expanded further over time to more parts of the country.”