Child Poverty Action Report
Renfrewshire Council · 17 June 2026
Back to Leadership Board — 17 June 2026 and its agenda
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PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Leadership Board On: 17 June 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Chief Executive _______________________________________________________________________ Heading: Local Child Poverty Action Report _______________________________________________________________________ 1 Summary 1.1 The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requires that each local authority and each relevant Health Board must jointly prepare and publish a Local Child Poverty Action Report after the end of each reporting year. This report must describe measures taken during the reporting year within the local authority area that reduce child poverty or improve outcomes for children living in poverty. It must also describe planned and proposed future actions. 1.2 This report sets out activities undertaken in Renfrewshire to reduce child poverty between April 2025 and March 2026, and also planned and proposed actions for the future. 1.3 The report highlights work being undertaken across Renfrewshire Council and its partners, statutory and third sector, to support families and respond to the cost of living pressures which continue to impact many families, with the effects being felt particularly by low income families and those within identified Child Poverty Priority Groups. What impact did partners make over the period? • The rate of child poverty in Renfrewshire after housing costs fell from 13.9% to 12.7%. • 461 parents accessed employability supports. • Council funded advice provision helped local residents gain almost £15.4m, and manage debt of £4.6m. • 55 mothers were supported by the Stronger Start service, with
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PUBLIC £190,000 of income gained. • The Council’s £50 winter clothing grant benefited 4873 children and young people in Renfrewshire last year. • Approximately 9000 people (children and family member) benefited fro the Summer of Fun programme holiday programme. • 97.9% of school leavers in Renfrewshire went on to positive destinations – the 2nd highest rate in Scotland. • Renfrewshire had 407 trained Promise Keepers who are committed to supporting care experienced young people. 1.4 The report has been jointly developed by Renfrewshire Council, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). It also includes information about partnership work to tackle child poverty across Renfrewshire’s Community Planning Partnership. _____________________________________________________________________________ 2 Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Board: • Note the content of the draft Child Poverty Local Action Report 2025/26. • Approves the Local Child Poverty Action Report for publication. _______________________________________________________________________ 3 Background 3.1 The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 sets out ambitious targets for the Scottish Government to significantly reduce child poverty in Scotland by 2030. The Act requires that local authorities publish a Local Child Poverty Action Report within three months of the end of each financial year. 3.2 The Report should provide detail of current, planned and proposed activity which is intended to reduce child poverty in the local authority area. It should also provide detail of preventative actions which will help young people avoid becoming parents in poverty by 2030. 3.3 This is the eighth such report produced for Renfrewshire. The Year 7 report for 24/25 was well received by National Partners who scrutinise all local authority’s reports, being described as ‘a strong plan showing meaningful engagement on the issue of child poverty with some areas that could be strengthened. The report is close to being an exemplar report which other areas could learn from.’ The National Partner in this case who scrutinised the report was Public Health Scotland, who also advised that support from national partners was not required.
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PUBLIC 3.4 The feedback also stated, ‘It is clear in the report that child poverty is a key priority across local plans such as LOIPs, Children's Services Plans and corporate plans. That the need to tackle child poverty is driving significant change and improvement locally, over and above business as usual.’ and added, ‘It is also clear that the three drivers of poverty are being addressed in a strategic and structural way.’ 3.5 The 25/26 report has been drafted taking into account the comments of the National Partner on the Year 7 report. 3.6 The most recently published figures on child poverty show that in Renfrewshire the rate of child poverty after housing costs is 12.7%, representing 3,900 children, a decrease of 337 children compared to the previous year when the rate was 13.9%. This figure is less than the Scottish average of 14.8%. Not all wards in Renfrewshire saw a reduction in the proportion of children in low-income families, with two wards seeing a slight increase in rate. There continues to be particularly high proportions of children in low-income families in both Paisley Northwest and Renfrew South and Gallowhill wards. 3.7 Renfrewshire’s Child Poverty Action Report recognises that a significant amount of work has been and is being done which is intended to reduce child poverty. The Report highlights the many activities carried out by Renfrewshire Council, Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and wider partners which are intended to tackle child poverty across Renfrewshire. 4 Overview of Local Child Poverty Action Report 4.1 The Scottish Government has identified the three key drivers of child poverty as: • income from employment; • costs of living; and • income from Social Security and benefits in kind. 4.2 This report focusses on the Council’s longer-term response to child poverty as well as shorter term responses to ongoing increases in costs of living, highlighting actions and achievements throughout 2025/26. The report is structured to reflect the strategic priorities within the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Delivery Plan, Best Start Bright Futures published in Spring 2022 which runs to 2026: • Providing the opportunities and integrated support parents need to enter, sustain and progress in work • Maximising the support available for families to lead dignified lives and meet their basic needs • Supporting the next generation to thrive 4.3 For 26/27 the LCPAR will be aligned with the newly published delivery plan for 2026 to 2031, Bringing Hope, Building Futures.
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PUBLIC 4.4 Providing the opportunities and integrated support parents need to enter, sustain and progress in work. • The Council’s employability service, Invest in Renfrewshire, offers a wide range of tailored supports to help residents on the journey towards and into employment. In 2024/25 we have continued to see a steady number of parents coming forward to use the services of Invest and the Local Employability Partnership (LEP) funded organisations with 461 parents accessing the service. • The Renfrewshire LEP has continued to plan and co-commission local employability services to help Renfrewshire residents make a successful transition towards employment and reduce unemployment in the area. Over the last year, the number of residents claiming out of work benefits in Renfrewshire has reduced from 3590 to 3375, equating to 2.9% of the population. There are also 90 Living Wage employers in Renfrewshire. • The Procurement Team has realised 260 Community Benefits this year, almost 100 more than last. 50 of these were to support communities, 84 of these are skills and training opportunities and 34 recruitment, with the rest being supply chain opportunities. 4.5 Maximising the support available for families to lead dignified lives and meet their basic needs • The Fairer Renfrewshire programme, continues to have a positive impact on low-income families in Renfrewshire in 23/24. At the Council’s budget setting meeting for 24/25, a further £1.3 million was invested in this programme to continue a number of existing supports such as free school breakfasts in schools in areas with high levels of child poverty, and funding for the mobile children’s library, the Skoobmobile. The programme also supports the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel as well as advice across schools. • Advice is a vitally important part of the effort to tackle child poverty, with the Council supporting the Healthier Wealthier Children and School Support services which provide dedicated advice services to families with children. Apart from the Advice Works service, which provides advice to families with younger children through their Family Advice Service, the Council also provides funding to Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau (RCAB) to provide both a general advice service and a community legal advice service. This year additional services have been funded: • A Welfare Rights service based at RCAB • A School Support service in every secondary school in Renfrewshire and in ASN schools • These Council funded advice services gained almost £15.4 million for the people of Renfrewshire in 25/26, and helped them manage almost £4.6 million in debt.
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PUBLIC • The Stronger Start project based within Maternity at the Royal Alexandra Hospital which provides advice and advocacy for mothers with complex needs received a total of 97 referrals in 25/26. A total of 55 women received both advice and advocacy support with almost £190k in financial gains. • In October 2025, the Council paid families an additional £50 per child for children receiving School Clothing Grant to help with winter clothing. Funding has been allocated in the 2026/27 budget to repeat this payment for all eligible children. • The successful Winter Connections Programme saw £75,000 allocated from the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme to fund 37 activities across Renfrewshire, with venues also providing hot drinks, snacks and food. Funding was also allocated across all Renfrewshire’s libraries, including the mobile library to provide hot drinks and cup-a-soup on a universal basis, and snacks for children taking part in activities. • The Summer of Fun Programme was very well received, with £100,000 of Council funding allocated to provide a comprehensive free programme comprising holiday camps, funded activities in the third sector, activities in libraries and activities for families supported with free food and drinks. Whole Family Wellbeing funded ASN provision was also provided, combining to a programme of activities for children and families, which was successful in reaching low income families and children within Child Poverty Priority groups. • Energy Advocates continued to support families with ongoing savings, write offs and Warm Home Discounts, as well as offering fuel vouchers to those in need for the first time. • The Council topped up the Cost of the School Day funding by £75,000 through the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme. This funding is allocated to schools to alleviate financial barriers to education. 4.6 Supporting the next generation to thrive • In Renfrewshire, there is a relentless focus on closing the poverty related attainment gap while raising attainment for all. As a result, there has been an increase in attainment across almost all curricular areas and stages. In addition, 24/25 represented the best school destination results ever for Renfrewshire, with 97.9% of school leavers entering positive destinations through LEP partnership working – the second highest level in Scotland. • With the cost of living affecting so many families this year, Youth Services has developed a number of targeted and inclusive responses that reduce costs of participation, increase access to services, travel and digital tools and promote wellbeing, engagement, and attainment for vulnerable and care-experienced young people. • Work around The Promise has progressed well and there are currently 407 trained Promise Keepers across Renfrewshire, an increase from 362 last year. Promise Keepers are empowered to enact changes within their services, share knowledge, and promote positive, non-stigmatising language as outlined in the Renfrewshire Language Policy.
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PUBLIC 5. Next steps 5.1 Collaborating across services and with partners is vital to provide the most comprehensive supports for families living with low incomes. In 26/27 we will continue to join up support and bring partners together, to focus collectively on achieving the most for local communities and families. The Fairer Renfrewshire Plan was approved at the end of 2025, and this new Plan, through the Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-Committee, and using the Fairer Renfrewshire Officers Group and wider statutory and 3rd sector links, we will work across services to develop responses to increased costs of living and child poverty and maximise impact of services. 5.2 After a successful year where the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience panel expanded its reach to support the HSCP and third sector, we will continue to fund and consult with the panel working to embed the voice of lived experience in Council policy and practice. Work will continue to bring the Panel together with elected members as well as Council Officers and will support the Panel with its identified priorities. 5.3 Using improved quantitative and qualitative data about local communities, we will better identify required resources and target services where they are needed most, while continuing to respond flexibly to emerging issues affecting families across the whole of Renfrewshire. This year in particular, using funding provided through the Child Poverty Accelerator Fund, we will set up a pilot to use existing administrative data to proactively identify families showing early indicators of child poverty risk - and connect them quickly to the right mix of support to establish whether this leads to improved outcomes. 5.4 With a focus on services in local areas, we will continue to go into local communities to engage those parents who are not working or who are working in low paid jobs to enhance their skills and career prospects and increase their income. Working with partners, we will raise awareness of the many benefits of employment to families and the support available to parents, especially within the child poverty priority groups, to help them start their own journeys towards work. 5.5 Again, with partnership across services at its core, we will develop a summer programme for children and young people, especially targeting those with low incomes or requiring additional support, and their families across Renfrewshire, allowing children from low income families to have the same experiences and make the same memories as those from families with higher incomes. __________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial – No implications 2. HR & Organisational Development – No implications.
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PUBLIC 3. Community/Council Planning – The Report highlights the continued activities which support the key priorities set out in the Council and Community Plans to tackle inequality and widen opportunity. 4. Legal – No implications 5. Property/Assets – No implications. 6. Information Technology – No implications. 7. Equality & Human Rights - It is anticipated that activities within the Report will have a positive impact on Equality and Human Rights considering the overrepresentation on equality groups within low-income households. 8. Health & Safety – No implications 9. Procurement – No implications 10. Risk – No implications 11. 12 13 14 Privacy Impact – No implications. COSLA Policy position – no implications Climate Risk – no implications Children’s Rights - the articles within UNCRC underpin the work that is being progressed in Renfrewshire, particularly in relation to rights in relation to aspects such as life, survival and development, food, clothing and a safe home and supporting the best interests of the child and their families. Child poverty and family wellbeing are key local partnership priorities. ________________________________________________________________ Author: Annabelle Armstrong-Walter, Connected Communities Manager.
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1 OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE nou Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/26
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 2 PUBLIC Table of Contents 1. Foreword ................................................................................................. 3 2. Executive Summary ..................................................................................... 3 2.1. Progress during 2025/26 ................................................................................ 4 2.2. Priorities for 2026/27 .................................................................................... 7 3. About Child Poverty ................................................................................... 10 4. Strategic Context ...................................................................................... 14 5. Theme 1: Providing the opportunities and integrated support parents need to enter, sustain and progress in work ......................................................................................... 22 6. Theme 2: Maximising the support available for families to lead dignified lives and meet their basic needs .................................................................................................... 34 7. Theme 3: Supporting the next generation to thrive .................................................. 61
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 3 PUBLIC 1. Foreword This, our eighth Local Child Poverty Action Report, sets out activities undertaken in Renfrewshire to reduce child poverty and support our children to thrive. It covers what we have done between April 2025 and March 2026, along with future plans to tackle child poverty. We want every child in Renfrewshire to have a fair start in life—one that is safe, healthy, and full of opportunity. Yet for too many children in our community, poverty continues to shape daily experiences, limit life chances, and place avoidable strain on families. The last few years have been challenging, especially for families with low incomes. Although, in general inflation has reduced, the cost of essentials such as food, fuel and housing remain high and a significant worry for many families in Renfrewshire. This report reflects the continued collective commitment from Renfrewshire Council, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) to addressing these challenges through strong partnership working with Community Planning partners and the third sector to support our families. Working alongside our Fairer Renfrewshire Panel ensures that by listening to the voices and experiences of families, our services are accessible, respectful and grounded in the realities faced by our communities. The actions outlined in this report are designed to make a tangible difference in the lives of those experiencing poverty. They focus on increasing family incomes, reducing the cost of living, and improving access to services that support children’s health, learning, and wellbeing and creating a more stable and supportive environment for families. We recognise that the impact of poverty goes beyond financial hardship. It can affect children’s confidence, educational attainment, physical and mental health, and future aspirations. By investing in early intervention and prevention, we can help ensure that children have the best possible start in life and are supported to thrive throughout their development. While challenges remain, we are committed to building on strong foundations and continuing to work together to reduce child poverty in Renfrewshire. The actions we take now will shape the future for our children, one where they can thrive, regardless of their circumstances. Alan Russell Chief Executive, Renfrewshire Council Chief Executive, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 4 PUBLIC 2. Executive Summary This is Renfrewshire’s eighth Local Child Poverty Action Report. The report captures the range of activity that has taken place in Renfrewshire to reduce child poverty in 2025/26 and looks forward to the actions planned for 26/27 and beyond. As in recent years, cost of living pressures continue to have a significant impact on Renfrewshire’s families and this report describes the actions we have put into place to help our families deal with the financial challenges facing them. These immediate supports, and short-term actions sit alongside our existing initiatives and longer-term plans. This report is set out in a way that reflects the three themes of the 2nd Scottish Government child poverty delivery plan, Best Start, Bright Futures which covered the period 2022-2026: • Providing the opportunities and integrated support parents need to enter, sustain and progress in work • Maximising the support available for families to live dignified lives and meet their basic needs, and • Supporting the next generation to thrive 2.1 Progress during 2025/26 2.1.1. Providing the opportunities and integrated support parents need to enter, sustain and progress in work • Our employability service, Invest in Renfrewshire, offers a wide range of opportunities and integrated supports to help residents on their journey towards and into employment. In 2025/26 we have continued to see a steady number of parents coming forward to use the services of Invest in Renfrewshire and the Local Employability Partnership (LEP) funded organisations with 461 parents accessing the service. • The Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership have continued to plan and co- commission local employability services to help Renfrewshire residents make a successful transition towards employment and reduce unemployment in the area. Over the last year, the number of residents claiming out of work benefits in Renfrewshire has increased slightly from 3305 to 3445, equating to 2.9% of the population. This is less than the Scotland rate (3.5%) and lower than that of Great Britain (4.4%).
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 5 PUBLIC • Our Procurement Team has realised 260 Community Benefits this year. 50 of these were to support communities, 84 of these were skills and training opportunities and 34 recruitment, with the rest being supply chain opportunities. 2.1.2. Maximising the support available for families to lead dignified lives and meet their basic needs • Our Fairer Renfrewshire programme, continues to have a positive impact on low-income families in Renfrewshire in 24/25. At the Council’s budget setting meeting for 26/27, a further £1.3 million was invested in this programme to continue a number of existing supports such as free school breakfasts in schools in areas with high levels of child poverty, our Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel as well as advice across schools. A further £300,000 was allocated to replace and fit out a new Skoobmobile vehicle to support the continued delivery of our mobile children’s library and £20,000 to expand some of our digital supports.. • Advice is a vitally important part of our efforts to tackle child poverty, with the Council supporting the Family Advice and School Support services which provide dedicated advice services to families with children. Apart from our own Advice Works service, which provides advice across Renfrewshire around benefits, money and debt and to families with younger children through their Family Advice Service, the Council also provides funding to Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau (RCAB) to provide both a general advice service and a community legal advice service. This year additional services have been funded: • A Welfare Rights service based at RCAB • A School Support service providing advice in every secondary school in Renfrewshire and in our ASN schools These Council funded advice services gained almost £15.4 million for the people of Renfrewshire in 25/26, and helped them manage almost £4.6 million in debt. In addition, the Stronger Start service set up in partnership with HSCP, NHSGGC and RCAB colleagues, continues to provide advice and advocacy for pregnant women and mothers with complex needs at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, gaining over £184,000 for clients. • The £50 winter clothing grant for each eligible child was paid to families in October 2025. The payment is made to Renfrewshire parents and carers who have received a school clothing grant. Funding has been allocated in the 2026/27 budget to repeat this payment for all eligible children. Recipients this year received a message about the payment which included information
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 6 PUBLIC about the School Support and Family Advice Services, and Head Teachers were provided with information on how to support families to access financial advice and how to book a Talk Money Week advice appointment. • Our successful Winter Connections Programme saw £75,000 allocated from the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme to fund 37 activities across Renfrewshire during the winter with £4,208 allocated across all Renfrewshire’s libraries. Venues also provided hot drinks, snacks and food. • Our Summer of Fun Programme for children and families was very well received, with £100,000 of Council funding allocated to provide a comprehensive free programme comprising holiday camps, funded activities in the third sector, activities in libraries and activities for families supported with free food and drinks. Whole Family Wellbeing funded ASN provision was also provided, combining to a programme of activities for children and families, which was successful in reaching low income families and children within Child Poverty Priority groups. • Our Street Stuff Programme provides a range of free multi-sport, gaming and educational activities 6 evenings a week, Monday to Saturday, throughout the year. We offer young people aged 8 - 16 across Renfrewshire access to exercise and social activities in a number of areas that they may otherwise not have the chance to take part in. • Our Energy Advocates have had over 500 referrals this year, including 45 for families with children, and started issuing fuel vouchers to those in need for the first time through the Fuel Bank Foundation • We topped up our Cost of the School Day funding by £75,000 through our Tackling Poverty Programme. • Approximately 89% of those young people eligible in Renfrewshire have a Junior or a Young Scot National Entitlement card and free bus travel as part of the U22s Free Bus Travel Scheme saving families money on transport costs and supporting schools trips. This is an increase from 87% last year. • 151 tenants qualified for assistance from the Tenant Support fund to a value of approximately £41,386. The process has the added value of full income assessment and advice provision and through the additional advice, several sources of additional assistance have been accessed which include Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Disability Benefits, as well as food vouchers for those in a crisis situation. In monetary terms this equates to £15,735 between April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 7 PUBLIC 2.1.3. Supporting the next generation to thrive • There is a relentless focus on closing the poverty related attainment gap while raising attainment for all. As a result, there has been an increase in attainment across almost all curricular areas and stages. Attainment is now in line with or ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Renfrewshire is ahead of national figures across all stages and curricular areas in 2023-24. • Contributing to tackling child and youth poverty, the Youth Team has developed a number of targeted and inclusive programmes that reduce costs of participation, increase access to services, travel and digital tools and promote wellbeing, engagement, and attainment for vulnerable and care-experienced young people. Young people engaging in the Youth Team activities can access free food, period products and digital devices and connectivity as a matter of course. • Work around The Promise has progressed well and there are currently 407 trained Promise Keepers across Renfrewshire up from 362 at the same time last year. Renfrewshire actively engages with the Care Experienced community to ensure their voices are heard and their needs are met in service design and delivery and they can contribute to the development of policies such as the Renfrewshire Language Policy, which promotes the use of positive, inclusive language when referring to Care Experienced individuals. 2.2 Priority Actions Our priorities in 25/26 have included: Priority Actions for 2025/26 1 Developing a Fairer Renfrewshire Plan 2 Continuing to explore place based approaches to supporting low income households informed by the learning from the community needs assessment in Gallowhill 3 Map and maximise the provision of money advice across Renfrewshire and linked forms of support such as energy advice in light of the cost of living crisis 4 Expand opportunities for parents to enter, sustain and progress at work through the Parental Employability Support Fund
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 8 PUBLIC 5 Monitor the ongoing impacts of the continued high costs of living, continuing to flexibly respond to emerging issues 6 Better use the voice of our communities in decision making, including development and support for the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel to deliberate on and guide policy and practice 7 Utilise quantitative and qualitative data to inform work This report provides examples of where these priority actions have been progressed, including development of policy responses to child poverty and the continuing cost of living crisis through the Fairer Renfrewshire programme. Following a Community Needs Assessment in Gallowhill, an area with high child poverty rates, a Community Development Officer was employed to build capacity and work alongside the community to develop actions based on its own needs and wants. A number of community led initiatives have now been established including a weekly family programme run by One Ren. Our Fairer Renfrewshire Panel has been running for over three years, and in that time the Panel has developed and become an invaluable resource for Council services and beyond, feeding into policy and practice in a number of areas including our Employability Services, Digital Roadmap, summer holiday programme and Climate Adaptation plans. They have also worked with our Communications and Marketing Team on how the Council can engage and communicate better with the public. Our advice services are making significant gains for families and we have advice embedded in all secondary and ASN schools with Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau (RCAB), which has been extended for another year, for 2026/27. The Council’s Advice Works service has continued its initiative where all families applying for Free School Meals or Clothing Grants were offered advice and also provide a Family Advice Service for all families with children of primary school age and below. Advice is also embedded within our employability service and housing services. Looking forward to 26/27 This year we developed our first Fairer Renfrewshire Action Plan detailing the priorities and programme of work to be undertaken over the next 18-24 months, and during 26/27 will be working to achieve the actions identified within his plan. This plan refreshes and sharpens focus on the priorities for the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 9 PUBLIC Over the next two years, we will concentrate on four strategic priorities: Improving Financial Security - Helping households maximise income, reduce costs, and access early help to prevent crisis. Strengthening Health, Wellbeing and Community - Supporting families and communities through sustainable models of care, food security, and place-based approaches. Embedding Equality and Inclusion - Ensuring services are accessible, inclusive, and shaped by the voices of those who are often unheard. Using Insight and Evidence for Impact - Harnessing data, feedback, and lived experience to drive better decisions and deliver measurable change. While these strategic priorities cover fairness for all Renfrewshire residents, we will carry out specific actions to support our families who are living in or at risk of poverty. How we work is vital and we will continue to collaborate across services and with partners to provide the most comprehensive supports for families living with low incomes. In 26/27, we will continue to join up support and bring partners together, to focus collectively on achieving the most for our communities and families. Using our new Fairer Renfrewshire Plan, through our Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-Committee, and using our Fairer Renfrewshire Officers Group and wider statutory and 3rd sector links, we will work across services to develop responses to increased costs of living and child poverty and maximise impact of services. This cross-cutting way of working will help us in our focus on our areas of highest child poverty. This year we will continue to explore and establishing place-based approaches to tackling child poverty. With a focus on services in local areas, we will go into our communities to engage those parents who are not working or who are working in low paid jobs to enhance their skills and career prospects and increase their income. Working with partners, we will raise awareness of the many benefits of employment to families and the support available to parents, especially within the child poverty priority groups, to help them start their own journeys towards work. Again, with partnership across services at its core, we will develop a summer programme for children and young people, especially targeting those with low incomes or requiring additional support, and their families across Renfrewshire allowing children from low income families to have the same experiences and make the same memories as those from families with higher incomes. After another successful year where the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel expanded its reach to new services, we will continue to fund and consult with the Panel working to embed the
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 10 PUBLIC voice of lived experience in our policy and practice. We will bring the Panel together with elected members as well as Council Officers and will support the Panel with its identified priorities. Using improved quantitative and qualitative data about our communities, we will better identify required resources and target services where they are needed most, while continuing to respond flexibly to emerging issues affecting families across the whole of Renfrewshire. This year in particular, using funding provided through the Child Poverty Accelerator Fund, we will set up a trial to use existing administrative data to proactively identify families showing early indicators of child poverty risk - and connect them quickly to the right mix of support to establish whether this leads to improved outcomes. 2.3 Scottish Government Child Poverty Targets and Drivers Child Poverty Targets were set by the Scottish Parliament in 2017 and are as follows: The statutory income targets are ambitious and relate to the following measures of poverty: Relative poverty: a child is in relative poverty if they live in a household where equivalised income is below 60 per cent of the inflation adjusted UK median income in the same year. This is a measure of whether those in the lowest income households are keeping pace with the growth of incomes in the economy as a whole. Absolute poverty: a child is in absolute poverty if they live in a household with an income below 60 per cent of the median equivalised net income in 2024-25. This is a measure of whether those in the lowest income households are seeing their incomes rise in real terms. Combined low income and material deprivation: a child is in combined low income and material deprivation if they live in a household with an income below 70 per cent of the equivalised median net income for that year and are unable to afford a number of basic goods and services (material deprivation). By 2030, after housing costs Fewer than 10% of children live in households that are in relative poverty Fewer than 5% of children live in households that are in absolute poverty Fewer than 5% of children live in households that are in combined low income and material deprivation Fewer than 5% of children live in households that are in persistent poverty
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 11 PUBLIC Persistent poverty: a child is in persistent poverty if they have been living in Scotland and in relative poverty for three of the past four years. In March 2022, the Scottish Government published its second child poverty delivery plan, Best Start Bright Futures under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. Best Start, Bright Futures sets out a vision for Scotland, the changes that are needed to achieve this, and the actions Scottish Government intend to take with partners to deliver that change for the period 2022 to 2026 and focusses on three themes: • Providing the opportunities and integrated support parents need to enter, sustain and progress in work • Maximising the support available for families to live dignified lives and meet their basic needs • Supporting the next generation to thrive These combined with the three drivers of child poverty give a focus to the work taking place in Renfrewshire to reduce poverty within our families, focussing on the following themes: In March 2026, the Scottish Government published figures which confirmed that the interim target of 18% of children living in relative poverty was missed with relative child poverty reducing from 22% to 21% in Scotland. The missed target was not unexpected as the interim targets were set when child poverty rates were consistently lower and pre-dated the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. Looking forward, the newly published Delivery Plan for 2026 to 2031, Bringing Hope, Building Futures, focusses on four key themes where further action is needed: • Increasing earned incomes • Reducing the costs of living • Maximising incomes from social security and benefits in kind and • Supporting children and families to thrive. Income from employment Costs of Living Income from Social Security and benefits in kind
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 12 PUBLIC 2.4 Priority Groups ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ identified six priority family types that face additional barriers to moving out of poverty, and the new delivery plan ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’ maintains a focus on these family types: • Lone Parents • Families that include a disabled adult or child • Large families with 3 or more children • Minority Ethnic families • Youngest child is under 1 year old • Young Mother aged under 25 years old Reporting continues to show that around 90% of all children in poverty in Scotland live within the six priority family types. In March 2026, the Scottish Government published their Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland report for 2022-25 which updated the figures showing the proportion of children in relative poverty after housing costs within the Child Poverty Priority Groups. 23% 36% 37% 27% 52% 35% 41% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% All children Lone parent families Minority ethnic families Families with a disabled person Families with younger mothers (<25) Families with a child under 1 Families with 3+children Proportion of children in relative poverty after housing cost, Scotland 2022-25
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 13 PUBLIC Figures presented are for three-year averages 2022-2026 with the exception of young mothers which reflect a seven year rolling average 2017-2024. 2.5 Child Poverty in Renfrewshire In March 2026, the Department for Work and Pensions released statistics on children in low- income families. This year’s publication for the first time calculates the after housing costs figures for each local area but only for the financial years ending 2024 and 2025 along with the usual before housing cost figures that have been reported for a number of years. For 2025, the percentage of children in relative low income, before housing costs in Renfrewshire is 10.8%, representing 3,304 children. This is a decrease of 39 children compared to the previous year, when the rate was 11.0%. The rate for Scotland is 12.3%. The proportion of children in low-income families in Renfrewshire after housing costs has decreased from 13.9% in 2024 to 12.7% in 2025. The decrease is likely to be at least partially due to Scottish Child Payment income being included for the first time, with 2023/24 being the first full year that Scottish Child Payments were paid to all eligible children under the age of 16. Not all wards in Renfrewshire saw a reduction in the proportion of children in low-income families, with two of our wards Erskine and Inchinnan (0.1%) and Bishopton, Bridge of Weir and Langbank (1.1%) seeing a slight increase in rate. A family must have claimed Child Benefit and at least one other household benefit (Universal Credit, tax credits or Housing Benefit) at any point in the year to be classed as low income in these ‘after housing costs’ statistics. This will automatically exclude those low income families that have either chosen not to claim a household benefit, are unaware they are entitled to a household benefit or are not eligible to a household benefit (including those that have no recourse to public funds), thus child poverty may be underreported. Due to changes in the methodology, this year’s statistics should not be used as a direct comparison with previous years, meaning it is too early to identify long-term trends. There continues to be particularly high proportion of children in low-income families in both Renfrew South and Gallowhill and Paisley Northwest wards, with children living in relative low- income rates at 23.5% and 18.8% respectively. These figures cannot be compared to previous year statistical releases due to the methodological changes. At a ward level, the percentage of children living in relative low income families (after housing costs) are shown below:
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 14 PUBLIC Number of Children Percentage of Children Ward (2025 % in descending order) FYE 2024 FYE 2025 FYE 2024 FYE 2025 Renfrew South and Gallowhill 488 463 24.8% 23.5% Paisley Northwest 584 555 19.8% 18.8% Paisley East and Central 344 317 16.4% 15.1% Paisley Southwest 433 382 17.1% 15.1% Scotland 136,704 132,484 15.2% 14.8% Renfrew North and Braehead 440 397 15.6% 14.1% Johnstone South and Elderslie 420 383 14.6% 13.3% Johnstone North, Kilbarchan, Howwood and Lochwinnoch 278 269 13.5% 13.1% Renfrewshire 4,237 3,900 13.9% 12.7% Paisley Southeast 265 203 14.4% 11.1% Erskine and Inchinnan 322 325 10.7% 10.8% Bishopton, Bridge of Weir and Langbank 121 140 7.5% 8.6% Paisley Northeast and Ralston 165 138 10.2% 8.5% Houston, Crosslee and Linwood 389 328 9.0% 7.6% In 25/26 we have continued to use data, including these statistics to ensure we are targeting the right supports in the right areas. 3 Strategic Context 3.1 Fairer Renfrewshire Programme A Fairer Renfrewshire Action Plan was agreed by the Leadership Board in December 2025, which sets out the priority actions that the council and its partners will progress to reduce poverty and inequality in Renfrewshire over the next 18 months. The Action Plan has four themes:
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 15 PUBLIC • Improving financial security • Strengthening Health, Wellbeing and Community • Embedding Equality and Inclusion • Using Insight and Evidence for Impact The Council and its partners continue to work together to progress the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme and overarching plan, with a strong shared focus currently on tackling inequality and improving wellbeing. At Council on 26th February 2026, members further reaffirmed their commitment to the Fairer Renfrewshire programme with continued investments in a number of targeted interventions including the £50 winter school clothing payment, the Winter Connections programme, funding to Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau (RCAB) to support their welfare rights advocacy service as well as an allocation of further funding to supplement both Discretionary Housing Payments and Scottish Welfare Fund. The Council’s Fairer Renfrewshire Sub-Committee has been meeting since August 2022. This Sub- Committee considers matters relating to poverty and financial insecurity, including food and fuel insecurity and the continuing high Costs of Living affecting our families. With oversight of the Council’s response to the Alcohol and Drug Commission report and the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme, it makes recommendations to the Council and the Leadership Board regarding those matters. A Fairer Renfrewshire Officers Group, chaired by the Head of Policy and Partnerships, meets 6 weekly. This Group brings together Officers from across the Council as well as Renfrewshire HSCP and OneRen, Renfrewshire’s charitable trust which provides culture, leisure and sporting opportunities. This allows cross service information sharing and scrutiny on matters related to making Renfrewshire fairer, and promotes a cross cutting approach intended to increase impact on outcomes for our households who are living in poverty. The Council Plan 2022-2027 is a key strategic document for Council employees, local people, businesses, partner organisations and voluntary organisations, setting out what the Council is aiming to achieve until 2027. Alongside Renfrewshire’s Community Plan, the Council Plan provides organisational direction, ensuring that the key strategic priorities of the Council translate into specific actions within service improvement plans. One of the key pillars of the plan is ‘Fair – nurturing bright, happy and healthy futures for all’, which outlines a number of key corporate priorities focussed around addressing child poverty. The Plan also describes a cross-cutting theme – improving outcomes for children and families, which runs across all strategic outcomes in the Plan, and underpins all we do.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 16 PUBLIC In tandem with the Council Plan, the vision for our Community Plan is "working together to make Renfrewshire a fairer, more inclusive place where all our people, communities and businesses thrive". There are three ‘Areas of Focus’ within the Community Plan, of which ‘Supporting low- income families’ is one, with 4 action areas dedicated to this areas of focus. With an emphasis on joining up support for families within communities, and taken in tandem with the Council Plan, our Community Plan illustrates our commitment, along with our partners, to reducing child poverty and supporting our children to have the best start in life. Work has commenced to develop new Council and Community plans by September 2027, with a programme of engagement and consultation across communities to assess priorities being planned as an early step. 3.2 Renfrewshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership Renfrewshire HSCP IJB Strategic Plan, Shaping Our Future 2022-2025 was refreshed for a further 2 years with a Refreshed Strategic Plan 2025-2027 being published as a ‘bridge’ to a longer-term plan from 2027 which will have a more transformational focus. The Strategic Plan has a number of objectives which impact particularly on children, including ‘Support the health and wellbeing of children, young people and families and work to address child poverty’ and ‘Work with partners to deliver Renfrewshire’s commitments to ‘The Promise’ , although other objectives can also contribute to desired outcomes around child poverty, including that around supporting pathways for neurodivergent adults and children. This report has a strong input from the HSCP Health Improvement Team who focus on prevention and early intervention and have been working closely with Council Colleagues in a number of areas. 3.3 Renfrewshire’s Children’s Services Partnership Throughout Scotland, local authorities and health boards work with community planning partners to ensure services delivered to children, young people and their families are the best they can be. In Renfrewshire, we do this by listening to our communities to identify what support people need, why they need it, when they need it and how best it can be provided. This work takes place through Renfrewshire’s Children’s Services Partnership (RCSP) whose members include the Council, other
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 17 PUBLIC public sector organisations, and the third sector. Together, we identify local priorities and plan how we can join up to add value and deliver services to children, young people and their families that make a real difference to their lives. The new Renfrewshire Children’s Services Partnership Plan will cover 2026 to 2027 and will set out the steps that will be taken to improve the lives of Renfrewshire’s children, young people and families. The Plan is currently out for consultation therefore new outcomes for 2026 to 2027 are not yet confirmed. The Plan will go to the RCSP Board on 20 May 2026 for approval. The Partnership examined national and community priorities and how these link in with our vision children’s service planning. This includes work around The Promise, UNCRC, GIRFEC, Whole Family Wellbeing and Poverty. The Children’s Services Partnership Oversight and Monitoring Group continues to meet at least quarterly and provides updates to each meeting of the Partnership Board. 3.4 Children’s Services Improvement Plan Renfrewshire’s Education Improvement Plan (2025/26) has been developed through consultation with a variety of stakeholders. Our Education Improvement Plan sets out where we want to improve and how we want to do that, based on the evidence we have gathered on our current performance. Our Plan focuses on 6 main priority areas: Our improvement priorities align to those outlined in the National Improvement Framework and the Education Improvement Plan supports the delivery of the priorities contained within key plans such as Renfrewshire Council’s Plan, Children’s Services Partnership Plan and Children’s Services Improvement Plan. As part of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 an Early Learning and Childcare consultation was carried out in Autumn 2025 and findings will be used to support the future
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 18 PUBLIC planning and delivery of early learning and childcare services. The responses reflected the perceptions, demand, and experiences of 498 parents and carers who are currently accessing childcare or planning to do so in Renfrewshire within the next 2 years. In June 2025, Renfrewshire proudly hosted the national Action for Change Youth Assembly in partnership with Education Scotland. Held at Paisley Town Hall, the event welcomed over 200 young people from schools across Scotland. A highlight of the day was the keynote address by Jackson Katz, co-creator of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) programme. We continue to prioritise the development of staff skills and knowledge across educational settings through a comprehensive Health and Wellbeing (HWB) training offer. The CEOP (Child Exploitation Online Protection) training team delivered highly-evaluated training to staff working with children and young people across Renfrewshire Council. Our ongoing focus on suicide prevention and self- harm awareness includes regular training and targeted support for school staff, informed by referral trends to The Exchange counselling service. This work has been nationally recognised, featuring as a “Pockets of Practice” case study by Suicide Prevention Scotland and in Public Health Scotland’s Creating Hope podcast series. Last session, we introduced our Approaches to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) training for education staff. Feedback from nearly 200 staff from early years, primary and secondary sectors, indicates increased confidence and competence in using therapeutic approaches and language, with pupils reporting improved emotional regulation. One key achievements this year has been that the percentage of school leavers entering a positive destination has continued to improve, increasing to 97.9% in 2025/26 from 97.1% in 2024/25. This is the highest level since this indicator has been measured. This increase in the proportion of school leavers participating in employment, training or education means that Renfrewshire now has the 2nd highest positive leaver destination figure in Scotland. 3.5 How we work with people As a Council, Renfrewshire is very keen to engage with our residents and use their voice and feedback to support the design of policy and practices across services. Some examples of this engagement are below. Fairer Renfrewshire Panel In 2022/23, we established a Fairer Renfrewshire Panel of people with lived experience of poverty to inform Council policy and practice. After a successful 6 month ‘test of change’ to establish whether
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 19 PUBLIC a Panel would result in meaningful engagement on the part of both people with lived experience and policy makers, the decision was made to extend the arrangement and the Panel has continued to meet since. The panel is diverse, and experiences include being adults and children in poverty, dependent on benefits and in-work poverty, as well as New Scots and those who have been previously consulted without it making a difference. Over 25/26, the Panel has provided insight in a number of areas. The Panel has continued to support employability, this year, as part of Renfrewshire’s employability week, taking part in a session with our local employability service, Invest in Renfrewshire, along with Skills Development Scotland and the Department for Work and Pensions to help these organisations reflect on how well our Employability Services are working for local people. The aim of the session was to help them sense check if communication is getting to the right people or groups and how accessible and effective their services are. The Panel coordinator also met with Aberdeenshire Council employability officers to provide information regarding the Panel structure, composition and how it works with a view to Aberdeenshire setting up something similar. The Panel also contributed to the planning for our free Summer Camps, supporting us to maximise attendance. The also fed into our Digital Roadmap, and met with our Communication and Marketing teams to look at how the Council can better engage and communicate with the public. Further engagement also took place over the Local Transport Strategy and around Climate Adaption Plans. This year, as part of the ongoing work the Panel have carried out with Renfrewshire HSCP on the Health and Wellbeing Survey, the Panel presented to Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership’s Executive Group. The Panel has continued to meet with the Convenor and Depute of the Fairer Renfrewshire Sub- Committee and looking forward, will meet with the Convenor of the Community and Housing Board around housing in Renfrewshire in 26/27. In April 2025, the Fairer Renfrewshire panel carried out a self evaluation, finding that membership of the Panel has been a positive experience, with recognition that the Panel has input in a number of areas and with various Council services and partners. We have built good working relationships with several Council services and have had return visits from many of them, which we believe shows that they value our input. Fairer Renfrewshire Panel Self Evaluation April 2025
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 20 PUBLIC Plans for 2026/27 include further work with Renfrewshire HSCP, on their ‘Ask and Act’ Pilot, around their Renfrewshire Community Food Education Small Grants and work on the questions for the next NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde adult health and wellbeing survey. They will also work with Renfrewshire Council on the welcome pack being developed for New Scots as well as Community Justice. These conversations and engagements with Council services and beyond will help people on low incomes get their voices heard on the policies and decisions that most impact their lives and help us understand their needs, especially those in the Child Poverty Priority Groups. Youth Team Our Youth Team also support young people to come together and prioritise the issues that matter most to them. Over 25/26, this work has continued in the form of events, residentials and youth forums. This has included: • Youth Voice and Participation. Young people across Renfrewshire were supported to actively participate in local and national decision-making structures. Opportunities were provided for young people to engage with Renfrewshire Youth Voice (RYV), Erskine Youth Council and the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP). RYV hosted its annual Positive About Youth Awards ceremony, celebrating young people’s achievements and contributions. RYV members also engaged in a full council meeting with Renfrewshire Councillors. • Local Youth Voice Groups. Renfrewshire Youth Voice continues to meet regularly to raise local concerns and influence change. • MSYPs. Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament continued to represent their constituencies over the past year, advocating on behalf of young people at a national level. Community Development, Gallowhill During 24/25, a Community Needs Assessment (CNA) funded by Renfrewshire HSCP took place in the Gallowhill area of Paisley. This was in response to increased child poverty rates within the area. In 25/26 Fairer Renfrewshire funding has been provided to employ a Community Development Officer to work in Gallowhill for an 18 month period. The Development Officer will feed into the development of coordinated actions to build capacity and work alongside the community to develop actions based on its own needs and wants. The 3rd sector organisation who carried the CNA out, Active Communities employ the Communty Development Officer. As a result of the placing of the Development Officer, and their ability to draw in funding from diverse sources, there is evidence of the community coming together to take part in activities.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 21 PUBLIC While working on the CNA, Active Communities immediately started a Friday lunch and drop in as a first step to supporting the community and building community capacity, and this continues to run. A Team up to Clean Up group has been set up to litter pick in the area, and this is now community led after being led by Active Communities in the first instance. A keep-fit group has been set up which meets prior to the Friday lunch and a Men’s Group has recently formed in March 2026 in response to the high number of male suicide deaths in Gallowhill. In addition to activities set up by Active Communities, a number of other services attend Gallowhill. Our Invest In Renfrewshire service also attends Gallowhill each Friday, as one of their parental employability hubs and One Ren run a weekly family programme in the area. In addition, one of our Family Wellbeing teams is based in Gallowhill Primary School. This service provides a base for the Community Development worker. Going forward, there are a number of other community activities being planned for residents of all ages, including free summer activities for children. It is envisaged that some of these will become community led, and from this galvanisation of the community, the eventual result will be the constitution of some local groups, as well as the reemergence of the Community Council in the area, allowing local people to support decision making for their own community. In addition to work within the community, this year the ‘Gallowhill Link’ was also completed, with a transformed former railway line now connecting Gallowhill to sustainable travel and cycling routes extending toward Glasgow Airport. This provides a direct, safe route for pupils and staff heading to the Paisley Grammar School Community Campus and connects to local retail parks and the AMIDS industrial district. It is hoped that through building community reslilience, through a partnership response to challenges in the Gallowhill area and improved infrastructure opening up access to local employers, child poverty rates will begin to decline. Using Gallowhill as a blueprint, A Community Needs Assessment is currently underway within the Howwood Road area of Johnstone. Externally funded, this again is being undertaken by Active Communities and is in recognition of the challenges faced by some families in the area. This area is currently one of our Housing Regeneration areas, and Active Communities are using the Housing Regeneration flat as a base to speak to the community. Services are working in partnership to provide supports within the area even prior to the needs assessment being completed. Looking forward to 26/27, further areas will be identified for place-based approaches. Housing Regeneration – Community Neighbourhood Renewal
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 22 PUBLIC In our 8 housing regeneration areas, a Community Neighbourhood Renewal approach is being used in parallel with the physical regeneration plans to look at the needs and circumstances of each area. This approach takes account of broader issues such as links to health and wellbeing, access to outdoor space and sustainable travel and employment or training opportunities that maximise the benefits achievable for local residents. The Housing-Led Regeneration and other Newbuild areas have benefitted from a range of consultative initiatives which have been well attended. Several initiatives have also been established such as a community litter pick, Pop Up Advice surgeries and area walkabouts, where residents can discuss issues with staff. A Regeneration Drop-in office has been established where tenants and residents can pop in to find out more and Facebook pages provide opportunities for residents to comment on regeneration issues. Local community centre events showcase the energy improvements and design features planned and provide further opportunities for tenants to provide feedback on environmental improvement designs. 4 Theme 1: Providing the opportunities and integrated support parents need to enter, sustain and progress in work Income from employment is one of the 3 main drivers of child poverty. As such, increasing income from employment for unemployed and low-income parents is a key objective nationally and in Renfrewshire. 4.1 Local Employability Partnership Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership (RLEP) is the local strategic employability partnership consisting of partner agencies from the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership. It is chaired by Renfrewshire Council and its purpose is to support the implementation of local and national employability policy (No One Left Behind) through collective leadership, joint planning and co-commissioning. In doing so, the partnership, working closely with local delivery partners, makes best use of resources available to deliver effective needs-led employability services that help Renfrewshire residents make a successful transition towards employment and reduce unemployment in the area. During 2025/26 the RLEP supported 556 people onto employment supported provision through the LEP grants commissioning programmes. 27 LEP funded programmes were spilt across 8 themes as
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 23 PUBLIC identified by the LEP subgroups to cover support to all of the key priority groups: Parents/Carers, Disabled & Long-term Health Conditions, Criminal Justice, Youth, Mental Health, ESOL, Vocational, Self Employment. Of these, 261 achieved a qualification, 144 gained work experience and so far, 148 moved into employment or FE/HE education. RLEP is committed to reducing those inequalities that exist in relation to employment between different geographic areas and for different groups who face significant barriers to work. Success as a Partnership goes beyond reducing unemployment at a Renfrewshire level to reducing the gaps that exist for these areas and groups. This includes Care Experienced young people which are prioritised by RLEP in its services and programme delivery. Recognising the key contribution that employability services can make to tackling child poverty, RLEP’s performance framework includes a range of indicators to help measure progress in relation to increasing income from employment of parents with low income as well as other outcomes and indicators such as tackling youth unemployment and increasing the disability employment rate and increasing enagagment and positive outcomes for all RLEP priority groups. Renfrewshire LEP has established a number of sub-groups focussing on priority groups and all of these will consider employability related actions to tackle child poverty. Over the last year, the number of residents claiming out of work benefits in Renfrewshire has increased slightly from 3,305 to 3,445, equating to 2.9% of the population, lower than the Scottish rate of 3.5% and that of Great Britain (4.4%). In February 2025, a 6% decrease in the number of people claiming Universal Credit and Jobseekers Allowance in Renfrewshire was recorded. The employment statistics also revealed an 11 per cent drop in Renfrewshire claimants aged 18 to 24, compared to January 2024. The proportion of workless households has also reduced by 1.0% to 16.1% - lower than for Scotland as a whole (18.2%) (2024). Economic Inactivity is a key focus at local, National and UK levels, in particular where this is linked to health issues . Although there was a significant reduction in the proportion of those inactive (due to health issues) that number has started to rise again from 29.8% in 2024 to 35.5% in 2025 and is now slightly higher than Scotland (34.7%). For those who are working, gross average weekly earnings for full time workers have increased to £797 from £745, higher than the Scottish figure of £775.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 24 PUBLIC Our employability services use a targeted and partnership-led outreach approach to identify and engage parents who may not traditionally access employability services, providing tailored supports that recognises that employability is closely linked to wider family wellbeing. They also work closely with employers to increase access to flexible and sustainable employment opportunities and provide ongoing in-work support to help employees to maintain employment. 4.2 Parental Employment Support Income from employment is one of the 3 main drivers of child poverty. As such, increasing income from employment for unemployed and low-income parents continues to be a key objective nationally and in Renfrewshire. Renfrewshire’s parents who meet at least one of the priority groups and who are unemployed or low income employed can access practical and financial support including: The support provided to parents is person centred and tailored to meet their individual requirements, aiming to remove the barriers they are facing to progress towards employment or gain improved employment. In addition, the service offers: • Specialist employability support for parents with a disability/long-term condition or who have a child with a disability/long-term condition. • Specialist support for parents with other significant challenges such as having a criminal conviction.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 25 PUBLIC • Targeted support to tackle the increased challenge of in-work poverty by helping parents already in work to remain active in the workplace and gain progression through a rewarding career, through the provision of ongoing training and employability support. • Confidential income and money advice which includes: benefit checks and help with any claim processes; better off in work calculations; help with debts; creation of a bespoke budget for the family; and budgeting skills support to ensure long lasting effect. • Client recruitment Incentives aligned to parents, for those with significant barriers including those parents in the 6 Child Poverty Priority groups. • Further work with employers to create family/parent friendly working conditions and working patterns e.g. school hour posts. • A Wellbeing Advisor to support parents who are requiring additional support. • Traineeship opportunities as paid placements within various sections of the Local Authority, where parents can re-enter the job market as a trainee initially to develop their skills and confidence to support them to progress towards gaining employment. Our employability service, Invest in Renfrewshire, offers a wide range of tailored supports to help residents on their journey towards and into employment. In 2025/26 we have continued to see a steady number of parents coming forward to use the services of Invest in Renfrewshire and the LEP funded organisations. During this period 461 parents have been supported, including 296 new parents and 165 parents who were registered in previous years. The parents supported this year included 400 from one or more of the Child Poverty priority groups. The table below shows the priority groups that the parents identified with at point of registration. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 No Priority Group PES Priority Group - 3+ Children PES Priority Group - Children under age of 1 PES Priority Group - Disabled PES Priority Group - Ethnic Minority PES Priority Group - Lone Parent PES Priority Group - Parents under the age of 25 Grand Total Scottish Government Priority Groups Female Male Prefer not to say
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 26 PUBLIC In the financial year 2025/26, Renfrewshire Council were awarded funding to support parents through the Child Poverty Funding stream (formerly known as PESF – Parental Employability Support Fund). This funding has enabled services to continue to provide a focused and tailored support for families both employed and unemployed. The Invest in Renfrewshire Parental Employability Support team includes a Child Poverty Co- ordinator who manages the delivery of the Parental Employability Support programme and team members. The team includes 6.5 FTE Parental Employability Advisors who are allocated a geographical area for their caseload. The Parental Employability Team have delivered outreach in locations across Renfrewshire. This approach has allowed parents access to support in their local area as well as being able to access support from Invest in Renfrewshire’s main office at The Russell Institute in Paisley town centre. The team have delivered outreach services in various locations on a regular basis including the below: • Station Seven, Johnstone • McMaster’s Centre, Renfrew • Tannahill Centre, Ferguslie • Bargarran Centre, Erskine • Paisley Central Library, Paisley • Linwood Library, Linwood • Gallowhill Community Centre, Gallowhill • Foxbar Flexible Learning Hub, Foxbar They have also participated in outreach activities in schools and early education establishments and will continue to engage with more education establishments in the year ahead. To support the engagement with parents who are unemployed, the Advisors regularly attend Jobcentre Plus offices across Renfrewshire. This enables residents to meet with Advisors and learn about the support available for parents and provides an opportunity to speak to advisors about their personal support requirements before being referred to the service. Through information gathered at initial assessment and through the ongoing work with people in Renfrewshire, Invest and the LEP subgroups recognised that additional support was required to support people with their mental health as part of their journey into employment. The LEP and
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 27 PUBLIC Invest in Renfrewshire commissioned counselling support from RAMH and Time for Talking. RAMH were also commissioned to deliver group sessions including Coping with Anxiety and Living Life to the Full. These services will continue into 2026/27 and the LEP have funded additional provision from SAMH and Kustom Kruizers to deliver group activity based support that will be available to all service users. RAMH provided training for Invest and LEP staff to improve their skills and knowledge in supporting residents with their mental health, including training in Scottish Mental Health First Aid, ‘Small Change Big Impact – Trauma Informed Practices’. Staff also had the opportunity to attend ‘Understanding Neurodiversity: An Introduction’ being delivered by Youth Inspired. These courses have been funded for a further year to support more staff to develop their skills. The Invest and LEP funded providers offer a range of barrier removal, prevocational and vocational training opportunities. There are group activities on offer that cover a wide range of topics including interview skills, team working etc, as well as formal accredited training such as care, construction training and other sector specific training which enhances and develops the attributes, skills and knowledge required to support progression into sustainable employment. To improve skills and qualifications, parents have access to Digital College courses that they can work through at their own pace at home or within The Russell Institute. There are over 90 courses that they can select from and their Advisor will assist them to select courses that are relevant to their employment journey. These courses can also be completed in different languages where English is not the first language. Invest host training sessions for service users at The Russell Institute on a regular basis including employability skills workshops, IT skills and accredited training Steps to Excellence, CSCS, World Host and commission Emergency First Aid at Work and REHIS Food Hygiene. The training team in partnership with the Invest Employer Liaison team deliver Sector Based Work Academies (SBWA) focussing on developing skills to enable people to progress into employment within sectors where employers are recruiting. This year Invest delivered SBWA’s including Additional Support Needs Assistant programmes to support people interested in working within Education to support pupils in Renfrewshire schools, this programme was delivered over a 3 week period and included training relevant to the role and site visits to enhance the understanding of the requirements, on completion of the programme participants were guaranteed interviews, this has resulted in 16 parents being offered employment with Renfrewshire Council. The LEP commissioned provision for 2025/26 was delivered by:
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 28 PUBLIC • West College Scotland ‘YES Programme’ a personalised learning programme to support parents with multiple barriers into employment • BDA Ltd provided support to people interested in progressing into self-employment • ‘I Was Gonnae Charity’ provided a music-based project to support parents through a motivational and creative employability programme • The Lennox Partnership – Spire programme to support parents explore employment, learning and personal growth • Challenges – Make Work Work, personal development and leadership programme certificated by CMI, with the option to continue and achieve CMI qualification • Kairos Women+ Language Café, supports parents to develop their conversational English During the year it was recognised that additional training opportunities were required and Invest delivered Get Hired, a short programme focussed to support parents who required additional support with applications and interviews. The programme will continue to be offered in 26/27. There are many challenges and barriers parents face when considering returning to work including English as a second language, money and debt issues, health related conditions including mental health, criminal convictions and housing issues. With these barriers it is recognised that it can take time to progress through the stages of the employability pipeline to access all the support required. Parents therefore agree a personal action plan suited to their pace. In 2025/26, 127 parents supported by Invest progressed into employment or self-employment. Funded Work Placements were commenced by 9 parents. These are funded roles within a third sector organisation where the full salary costs are provided to the organisation for a period of 6 months to support the parent to develop and enhance their skills and gain valuable work experience. Traineeship opportunities were also funded for 30 parents within the Local Authority where they were able to gain valuable work experience within various sections of the Local Authority. The roles were created to be family friendly and provide flexible working for parents with a view to them developing skills to progress into other employment within the Local Authority or other organisations. In addition, there were 8 parents who entered Further Education and 145 who gained a qualification. The Employer Liaison team engaged with employers to encourage flexible working options when considering recruiting parents and employers were offered funding through the Client Recruitment Incentive to create an opportunity for a parent.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 29 PUBLIC The Transition to Work welfare fund was available to parents to support them financially in making the transition into employment. Parents were able to access up to £500 paid over a period of 13 weeks. The funding was available for parents who were unemployed and who met at least one Scottish Government Child Poverty Priority Group. In addition to this funding they were able to receive financial support with clothing for interviews and for commencing employment and funding towards travel costs for the initial 3 months of employment. During 2025/26 Invest continued to receive referrals for people who were arriving in Renfrewshire through resettlement schemes. There were 59 parent refugees and 3 asylum seekers supported by the employability services. There were also 178 parents supported with English as a second language. There are Parental Employability Advisors who speak additional languages including Arabic, Ukrainian, Russian, Urdu and Punjabi and are able to work with parents who speak these languages. The team has been strengthened with the addition of a Traineeship post who works alongside the team to translate for Advisors and can translate Dari/Farsi and Kurdish. This has supported us to engage with people from Afghanistan, in direct response to a request for the Renfrewshire Resettlement Team. Local Transport Strategy The new Local Transport Strategy sets out a range of objectives to support the development of accessible and affordable local transport which can in turn support employability, including: • Supporting fair and equitable access to sustainable modes of transport in Renfrewshire, that are integrated and easy to use for all • Improving transport connections within Renfrewshire and to neighbouring local authorities to support inclusive economic growth The Strategy sets out how the Council will work with SPT and operators to make buses, trains and taxis accessible and easier for all to use, including through reducing physical accessibility barriers and improving the accessibility of travel information. They will also work with partners to explore opportunities to increase the frequency and improve reliability of bus services across Renfrewhire and to expand network coverage of bus services in rural areas of Renfrewshire and between areas of deprivation and employment such as AMIDS, the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland which is based in Renfrewshire and Glasgow Airport . There is a focus on providing support to parents and carers to apply for young persons’ concessionary travel entitlement card and to support measures to make public transport affordable for all, including through actions identified in Transport Scotland’s Fair Fares Review.Again, this can aupport employment within families, rainins household income.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 30 PUBLIC 4.3 Looking forward to 2026/27 Invest will continue to deliver outreach services and provide services in local areas across Renfrewshire over the period of 2026/27. They will continue to engage with third sector groups and organisations and other partners to raise awareness of the many benefits of employment to families and the support available to parents to help them start their own journeys towards work. Employability staff will continue to work closely with organisations that already have good relationships with parents, in particular those working with the child poverty target groups. Parents can access LEP commissioned provision for 2026/27 from organisations which have been awarded LEP Grants to deliver projects and support to unemployed and underemployed parents: • Youth Inspired - YI Matter Too programme aimed at supporting parents with their personal development, confidence building and barrier removal • Generation: You Employed UK are delivering an 8-week programme to support people to develop skills to progress into employment in Technology • ‘Challenges Group’ will deliver the Make Work Work personal development and leadership programme certificated by CMI, with the option to continue and achieve CMI qualification. • The Lennox Partnership - Spire programme to support parents explore employment, learning and personal growth • The Salvation Army - Steps Forward programme for developing practical life skills and employability skills • ‘Kairos Language Café’ will provide conversational English sessions to further enhance communication skills • Klass Care programme is designed to empower parents aspiring to rrturn to the workplace by fostering self-awareness, communication skills, and resilience • West College Scotland Care Pathway programme will provide training for people looking to progress into employment in care. This programme will also include work experience • Bridges Programmes - Cultural Integration Group will support New Scots to develop and understanding of workplace cultures and expectations, employment law in the UK, techniques for job search and interviews • BDA Ltd will provide self-employment support for parents looking to progress into self- employed opportunities
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 31 PUBLIC • Scottish Childminding Association will deliver a programme of support to people interested in being a Child Minder. These commissioned services will work in partnership with Invest in Renfrewshire’s Parental Employability Support team, with Invest providing the wraparound support for parents participating. Invest will work in partnership to recruit parents for each of the programmes and will provide ongoing support during and after the programmes to support with progression to next steps on their employability journey. The team are also working on several programme developments to enhance the services and provide additional support to parents in Renfrewshire. 4.4 NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Employment Programmes Throughout 2025/26, NHSGGC has continued to focus on three themes around employability: Apprenticeships, Academy and Career, with work being progressed under those themes including: Apprenticeships • 42 apprentices progressed into substantive employment this year. • Scottish Apprentice week initiatives in March 2026 had around 100 attendees. Academy • A review of Academy programmes to align with Healthcare Support Worker pathways • Project Search continued to support young people with additional support needs or disabilities to move into paid employment Careers • Career focussed information sessions with DWP clients aimed at increasing awareness of NHSGGC as an employer and providing insight into the recruitment process as well as breadth of roles available, with 94 attendees • NHSGGC clinical and technical services supported STEM career events for senior pupils during Scottish Careers week in November 2025, with 1,000 pupils attending. • MCR Pathways mentoring continues. Plans for 2026/27 are to continue these three themes directed by workforce priorities in the NHS GGC workforce plan, Anchor Plan and engagement with partners through the LEPs. NHSGGC will
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 32 PUBLIC also scale up parental employability activity through paid placements thanks to additional funding from Scottish Government, King’s Trust and the Local Employability Partnerships. 4.5 Procurement In Renfrewshire, we are committed to maximising Community Benefits through Council procurement activities by including specific Community Benefit Clauses and targets within procurement contracts. These cover payment of the Living Wage as well as targeted employment and training opportunities. Fair work practices in areas such as zero hour contracts and worker representation are also scored. During 25/26, a total of 260 community benefits were delivered across 66 council contracts, with 42 suppliers delivering added social, economic and community value to Renfrewshire residents, businesses and communities. 50 of these were for communities, 84 were skills and training opportunities, 34 recruitment, and 23 local supply chain opportunities. There has been a significant increase in delivery across almost all categories of community benefit. In particular, substantial growth has been achieved in work experience placements, workforce upskilling, workplace visits and careers activity, and employment and graduate opportunities, indicating that more local people, businesses and community organisations are benefiting from council contracted spend. Community Wealth Building (CWB) is a key priority and Community Benefits are evaluated as part of the tendering process and monitored on a quarterly basis. Ongoing and future work to improve processes and outreach:
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 33 PUBLIC Our CWB Coordinator chairs the Council’s refreshed Community Benefits Forum and along with the Corporate Procurement Manager has put in place key terms of reference, strategic purpose and clear performance measures for the delivery of the council’s community benefits. This has included streamlining the monitoring of community benefits to help support better delivery. To help suppliers deliver benefits to those most in need across Renfrewshire, Community Benefit Forum membership has grown to include representation from a wider range of council services such as HSCP, Housing, ICT and Connected Communities as key partners which in turn widens outreach into our communities. The Community Benefits Forum is a key lever for the delivery of benefits from existing contracts and the group has now taken on a key role in strategic development of the community benefit approach in relevant contract strategies. This has enabled identification of new opportunities for the delivery of community benefits including building a range of social, economic, and/or environmental conditions into the delivery of council contracts from pre-tender stage to address local priorities. The Council uses Cenefits, a community benefits tracking system which provides real time monitoring, reporting and evaluation of all procurement contracts with community benefit commitments. Further development of the Cenefits system will support the capture of qualitative evidence alongside quantitative data, improving visibility of who benefits from community benefits, where delivery takes place, and how this contributes to positive outcomes. A proposal is being developed to introduce a locally managed Community Benefits Portal, working collaboratively with Procurement, Renfrewshire Council’s Connected Communities Team and Engage Renfrewshire to enable suppliers to transparently access local community and third-sector support needs. NHSGGC is also a procurer and an affiliate member of the the Supplier Development Programme (SDP), which is a partnership of Local Authorities, Scottish Government and other public bodies that work together to bring free support in all aspects of tendering to Scottish-based small and medium enterprises. Membership of SDP is recognised as a community benefit to the public sector in Scotland. NHSGGC has continued to ensure procurement attendance at local and national "Meet the Buyer" events where appropriate. Further highlights from NHSGGC include proactively supporting the use of the Community Benefits Gateway (CBG) through effective partnership working between NHSGGC Procurement, Public Health and Third Sector Interfaces.The CBG is a free and easy-to-use online service that connects NHS Scotland suppliers with third-sector community organisations within Scotland who are looking for assistance with community initiatives or needs. In collaboration with Public Health
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 34 PUBLIC Scotland, the CBG helps improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of local areas and assists in the reduction of health inequalities across Scotland. During 2025/26, two awareness sessions were delivered by Health Improvement and supported and promoted by Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (GCVS). NHSGGC and Supplier Development Programme won Public Procurement Project of the Year for the work on Community Benefits Gateway (CBG). During 2026/27 the NHSGGC Procurement Strategy 2025-28 will continue to be delivered, with corporate social responsibility being a key priority area, with community benefits clauses in local contracts. 4.6 Childcare Since August 2022, all 3 and 4 year old and some eligible 2 year old children receive 1140 hours at nursery, using an approved childminder or a combination of both. In Renfrewshire there are 38 Council ELC establishments, 35 approved funded provider establishments and 11 childminders delivering the ELC entitlement. Most of our early learning and childcare settings are open before and after the school day across the full year to support working parents. The Council, through RLEP, has funded a programme by the Scottish Childminding Association to recruit and train childminders in Renfrewshire to help raise the number of approved childminders. This started in 23/24 and will be ongoing in 26/27 with 8 women currently active on the programme, 4 of whom have submitted their applications to the care commission for registration, and 2 who have now completed the registration process and are now registered childminders. Renfrewshire Council is committed to supporting the independent sector’s contribution to early years provision in Renfrewshire, through the allocation of funding to support a range of private and voluntary sector organisations which deliver services for families with young children. In 25/26 £79,375 was allocated to out of school care groups in the private and voluntary sector and for early years voluntary sector organisations, playgroups and toddler groups. 5 Theme 2: Maximising the support available for families to lead dignified lives and meet their basic needs Families continue to be impacted by high costs of living. Continued high costs are eroding living standards, reducing financial resilience and negatively affecting household debt affordability. Households are struggling to pay bills and pay off debts as a result of cost of living increases and
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 35 PUBLIC are defaulting on direct debits, with evidence showing that energy is one area where debts are increasing. Food inflation has also consistently been above general inflation rates for some time. We know some households have been disproportionately affected by these developments with low income families hit hardest. This year, Renfrewshire Council has targeted resources to support local households, working to ensure their income is maximised and outgoings are minimised. Our ongoing commitment to advice provision is illustrated in the number of services and projects the Council funds. With a General, a Legal and Welfare Rights advice service funded at Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau, as well as an embedded advice service for High and ASN schools, this is an investment of over £465,000 per year. This provision is in addition to our own Advice Works Team which provides general benefit and money advice to thousands of families every year. Advice Works also supports areas like housing, better-off calculations for employability and specific family advice for families with children from age 0 until the end of Primary School. We have a team of energy advocates who provide energy advice to households of all types and an Improving the Cancer Journey and Long Term Conditions Service for those who have received a diagnosis. Overall, Renfrewshire Council’s advice provision is considerable, and when advice funded, for example through Renfrewshire HSCP and external sources is added, this is a significant investment. In our partnerships with Renfrewshire HSCP, NHSGGC, the third sector and more widely, we have worked together to support families through embedding advice where possible and augmenting processes to encourage take up of advice. For the fourth year, over the winter period, we worked again with partners to deliver the Winter Connections programme - encouraging people to connect and participate in activities in warm and welcoming spaces across communities in Renfrewshire. Our Fairer Renfrewshire work includes projects and activities which help families living in poverty. Our Advice Partnership continues, with advice providers across Council Services, the third sector, HSCP, Social Security Scotland and NHSGGC coming together to share information and work to reduce gaps and coordinate services. Our refreshed School Meal Debt process has support for families at its core and advice is offered to everyone applying for School Clothing Grants and Free School Meals. Our summer programme is not only free to families, but is targeted at those who may need it most. Our digital initiatives bring together a range of partners working together to support the digitally excluded, and our Tenant Support Fund supports tenants who may be struggling to pay their rent.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 36 PUBLIC Throughout Renfrewshire, across Council services, and with a variety of partners, our actions help families reduce their cost of living and lead dignified lives. 5.1 Income maximisation through advice A key priority within the Fairer Renfrewshire Action Plan is ‘Improving Financial Security’, which focusses on supporting households to increase income and reduce essential costs. The Action Plan recognises the increase demand on advice services and there are five actions focussed on improving access to income advice and support: • Ensure the provision of money and benefits advice • Coordinate Advice Partnership Renfrewshire to streamline provision • Identify need and increase outreach for advice services • Promote Family Advice Pathway across Council services and Advice Partnership • Continue targeted income maximisation for low-income families with children The Council’s Advice Works service continues to provide advice with regards to money, debt and benefits, as well as providing advice and representation at benefit appeals. Overall, the financial gain for clients this year from new claims to benefit was over £12.5 million, with an additional £386,000 in mandatory reconsiderations and appeals. Advice Works have also helped clients manage £2.3 million in debt. The Council-funded Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau’s (RCAB) general service gave over 6,332 appointments and has gained £2.6 million for the people of Renfrewshire this year. This is in addition to the 330 people seen by the Legal Service, which is primarily used to avoid homelessness, and for debt cases. The Welfare Rights service had 211 clients and £207,376 in financial gain for clients. New debt cases this year have led to over £2.2 million worth of debt currently being managed. Overall, between the two services, 6,886 clients fell into Child Poverty Priority families, with the disabled child/adult in a family being the largest category: 2,906 seen by RCAB and 759 by Advice Works. Both Advice Works and RCAB provide outreach services as part of their service provision, and services work together to coordinate outreach and avoid duplication, while looking at provision across Renfrewshire. To simplify the available advice streams, a family advice pathway was created to bring together the School Support Service, Family Advice Service, including what was previously
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 37 PUBLIC Healthier Wealthier Children and emergency support under an overarching family advice picture in Renfrewshire. The pathway shows a clear and concise route to the appropriate advice provider and their contact details. This year, Advice Works and RCAB have continued to work closely to ensure people are getting the benefits they are entitled to and the best money advice. For example, they worked together on a ‘Talk Money’ week during November 2025 and have both worked with STAR Project in Renfrewshire ensure outreach services met demand. Both organisations are named and details provided in our promotional materials encouraging people to come forward for advice, including those we have recently had printed in languages other than English. We have continued to work closely with Social Security Scotland to ensure that referral between our clients and theirs is as simple as possible to maximise income for parents and parents to be. With both the Local Delivery Lead and Client Support Adviser Team Leader being part of our Advice Partnership, we can ensure relevant information is shared. In our benefits take up work, we continue to cascade specifically designed marketing materials around benefits for parents, including Best Start Grants and Scottish Child Payment to maximise numbers coming forward to claim these benefits. 5.2 Family Advice and School Support During 2025/26, the Family Advice Service provided income maximisation, welfare rights and debt advice to families across Renfrewshire. The team works with families to maximise household income through income advice, but also seeks to increase take-up of wider supports provided by the Council for families, for example, free school meals, school clothing grants or employability support for parents. Support focused on increasing household income through benefit uptake and income maximisation, alongside debt advice and practical support, reducing financial pressure and improving household stability. There were 441 referrals received to the Family Advice Service during 2025/26, with 430 clients engaging. This led to client financial gains of over £85,000. A significant proportion of families supported were within national child poverty priority family types, including lone parents, families with a disabled adult or child and families with children under one year of age. Referrals were primarily received through self‑referral and Health Visiting, with additional referrals from Social Work and Housing, reflecting strong partnership working and effective referral pathways.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 38 PUBLIC The Family Advice Service is provided by the Council’s Advice Works and supports families with children in early years and primary school settings, complementary to the advice service for secondary schools that is provided by RCAB. In particular, Advice Works will collaborate with primary school office staff to address issues such as school meal debt more proactively. The service also supports pregnant women, and receives referrals from a number of sources including Health Visitors and other NHS teams. The ‘School Support Service’ delivered by RCAB continued to provide advice in all Renfrewshire secondary and additional support needs schools for: • all secondary and additional support needs school attendees, • their families and carers, • school staff who may approach the service about a pupil/pupil’s family, • school staff who may approach the service about their own concerns. The advice provided by the project covers the following areas which support families to maximise their income: • Welfare Benefits including Social Security Scotland Benefits • Money and debt • Free School Meals, School Clothing Grants, and other benefits in kind, also collaborating with secondary and ASN school office staff to address issues such as school meal debt more proactively • Benefits that come directly to young people, such as free bus travel and Education Maintenance Allowance. RCAB work with school staff, including guidance, pastoral and home link staff to reach families who are struggling with money issues and ensure swift, proactive, and where possible, preventative support is provided. Where appropriate, the support provided is complemented by existing RCAB general and legal advice services. During 2025/26, there have been 322 advice appointments/contacts made and the service has helped 128 families with a client financial gain of £301,700. Almost half of the client financial gains related to Universal Credit, with a significant proportion related to disability benefits. The ‘School Support Service’ was initially a 2 year pilot to establish the most effective way to support young people and their families to maximise their income through utilisation of school premises and staff. The decision has been made to extend the service, with £50,000 allocated for 26/27.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 39 PUBLIC 5.3 Improving the Cancer Journey Our Improving the Cancer Journey and Long-term Conditions services help people to get the support they need – whether that’s physical, emotional, practical, spiritual, family/relationships or financial. The services are a partnership between Renfrewshire Council, Macmillan Cancer Support and NHSGGC. The Improving the Cancer Journey service has continued to offer holistic support for those with a cancer diagnosis. With money worries highlighted as the main issue for service users, in the last year, £371,044 has been gained for 435 clients. In addition, our Long-term Conditions service has gained £47,861 for 192 clients. Although these services are universal, many parents have gained from them, with the majority of clients living in SIMD 1 and 2 areas. Both services bringing much needed income and other support into households affected by illness. 5.4 NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – Advice in Hospitals Although the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley is attended by patients from the West of Scotland, it sees most of those in need of hospital care from Renfrewshire. The Support and Information Service aims to be the first port of call for all non-clinical health & social care enquiries. The information Hub in the RAH provides information about money and benefits, income maximisation support and help with energy bills as well as information and support for carers and patients. It also provides a food supply on discharge for those who need it, in partnership with Renfrewshire Foodbank. The Health Improvement Lead with responsibility for the service, is part of Renfrewshire’s Advice Partnership. In the Royal Hospital for Children, the Money & Debt with advocacy service supports any families who have a child as an inpatient or who attend the hospital as an outpatient. This service sees families from all 6 child poverty priority groups. The service works closely with families who often experience major life changing circumstances due to a child being born with a medical condition, a child suddenly becomes unwell, or they are diagnosed with a lifelong or life limiting illness. These Parents often become Carers, and they are faced with increasing and additional costs of caring for a child with a disability or lifelong or life limiting illness. 14 families from Renfrewshire were supported this year. NHSGCC has allocated funding to continue delivering the Money & Debt with advocacy service until summer 2026 and are working with the service provider, Money Matters, to secure alternative sources of funding to sustain the service.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 40 PUBLIC In line with its established approach, the service will continue to engage and collaborate with all key stakeholders through its dedicated multi-disciplinary steering group. This group includes representatives from the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, internal staff across departments, external professionals, and—crucially—the families who access and benefit from the service. This collaborative model ensures that a wide range of expertise and lived experience informs service planning, delivery, and ongoing improvement. Central to the service’s ethos is a commitment to placing the voices and experiences of families at the heart of everything it does. The insights and feedback gathered from the children and families supported by the service will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping priorities, guiding enhancements, and ensuring that the service remains responsive, compassionate, and effective in meeting the needs of its users throughout 2026/27. Stronger Start is an embedded Money Advice and Advocacy Service offered to women who engage with the Blossom Maternity Service across Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire. Stronger Start staff are co-located within the outpatients department at the RAH Maternity Hospital, Paisley, Vale of Leven Community Maternity Unit, Alexandria and Inverclyde Community Maternity Unit, Greenock. The service supports women experiencing financial insecurity during pregnancy and early motherhood and was initially delivered as a one‑year pilot. Strong early outcomes resulted in additional funding being secured to extend delivery and support further learning. The service is delivered in partnership with Renfrewshire CAB and overseen through a multi‑agency steering group. During 2025/26, the service received 97 referrals, including 73 from the Royal Alexandra Hospital, and 55 women engaged in intensive support. Confirmed financial gains totalled £189,403, equating to an average gain of £3,443 per woman supported. Support focused on income maximisation, benefit uptake, debt resolution and housing advocacy. Advocacy was a core element of delivery, supporting women to navigate complex systems, access entitlements and stabilise housing at a critical stage. Housing advocacy contributed to homelessness prevention. All women supported were within national child poverty priority family types. An external evaluation was undertaken in 2025 which found that a notable strength of the project was the individualised approach to providing advice, support, and advocacy, ensuring that these met the specific needs of each service user. The holistic approach ensured that the full scope of circumstances and needs are considered and service users felt that staff worked collaboratively
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 41 PUBLIC with them towards meeting their goals. Recommendations from the evaluation will inform the future direction of the project. “Overall, the evaluation has demonstrated the effectiveness of the Stronger Start project in improving the circumstances and outlook for vulnerable pregnant women, including effecting significant measurable financial gains, and taking a holistic approach to identifying needs, providing advice and support, advocating on their behalf, and working collaboratively with service users to achieve goals. For a client group recognised as being harder to reach and less likely to engage with services, the project is providing much needed support, with pregnancy being an optimal time for providing an opportunity for intervention...The project is meeting needs that are not being met elsewhere. The description by some service users of the project as a ‘lifeline’ appears apt. Stronger Start Evaluation In addition to Stronger Start, NHSGGC also have a Money Worries in Maternity Service . Midwives and maternity staff are offered training to raise the topic sensitively, understand the links between poverty and health, and know the referral pathways, integrating raising the issue of money worries into routine care. Twelve midwives and maternity care staff attended child poverty briefings to support a test of change and the introduction of a new referral pathway. In addition, a 10-minute bite-sized training session for maternity staff on raising money worries was launched in 2025. The Maternity Emergency Grant (MEG) was a small cash grant managed & delivered through Public Health’s Support & Information Services (SIS) to support pregnant women experiencing financial hardship when attending maternity appointments in NHSGGC acute hospitals. The purpose of the grant was to remove immediate financial barriers to accessing maternity care, particularly travel costs but also food, clothing and other essential needs. The MEG offered a one-off small cash grant (£50) accompanied by a brief, holistic support conversation, with SIS often resulting in referrals to external support services. The grant funding ended in December 2025. The Raising the issue of money worries in early years (HWC) Health Visiting Services work sits within NHSGGC’s wider Healthier Wealthier Children (HWC) programme. It is a preventative, early- intervention approach led by Health Visitors to tackle child poverty and its health impacts. Health Visitors routinely ask parents (especially during pregnancy and early years) about money or debt worries as part of normal care. If concerns are identified, families are referred to specialist money advice/ financial inclusion services. This is the core financial Inclusion service for NHS staff to refer families to for income maximisation. During 2025/26 100 families in Renfrewshire were supported.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 42 PUBLIC 5.5 Pregnancy, Maternity and Early Years Staff Resource The Pregnancy, Maternity and Early Years Staff Resource continued to support frontline staff to respond to families affected by cost of living pressures. The resource provides accessible information on financial, practical and wellbeing support available locally and nationally. The resource is available online, as a downloadable PDF and through the NHSGGC Happy Healthy Tots app, supporting consistent access to information for both staff and parents. During 2026/27 use of the resource and the Happy Healthy Tots app will continue to be promoted among frontline staff with content kept under review to ensure information remains current and responsive to cost‑of‑living pressures. 5.6 Cost of the Nursery Day Cost of the Nursery Day (COND) pilot project was delivered by the Renfrewshire HSCP Health Improvement Team during 2024/25. This project supported early-years establishments through upskilling staff to become a ‘Cost of the Nursery Day’ champion. These champions: • Attend two one-hour training sessions and share learning with the rest of their team. • Work with their team to develop actions they can implement to support their families with the cost of living and/or reduce financial pressures. • Become part of an email distribution list to allow the Health Improvement Team share key information, events and opportunities relating to the cost of living with their establishment. Activity in 2025/26 focused on supporting early learning and childcare settings to reduce financial barriers for families. This included strengthening staff awareness of the impact of poverty, improving confidence in having conversations with families about financial pressures and increasing awareness of available support and referral pathways. A second block of COND training was delivered between October and November 2025, including delivery at the Renfrewshire Council Early Learning and Childcare Staff Conference. Evaluation demonstrated strong engagement, with all participants reporting increased confidence and improved understanding of local support options. During 2025/26, development work progressed to create a dedicated COND webpage. This resource is intended to provide early years staff with a single, accessible source of information on financial support, local services and referral routes, supporting consistent practice across settings.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 43 PUBLIC For 2026/27 priorities include launching the COND webpage to provide a single, accessible resource for early years staff and embedding COND principles within early years practice to strengthen referrals to money advice, employability and benefits support.COND activity will continue to be delivered and sharing of best practice across early years establishments. 5.7 Tackling food and fuel insecurity Support around food and fuel has had an increased focus since the Cost of Living Crisis. While we recognise that inflation rates and fuel costs have decreased since the height of the crisis, costs are still much higher than they were before the crisis, and work is taking place across the Council, NHSGGC Public Health team and partners to support low income families who are struggling with increased food and fuel bills. Fair Food Renfrewshire / Good Food Nation Renfrewshire’s food partnership, Fair Food Renfrewshire, continues to evolve, with the steering group meeting quarterly, working towards developing food system change in Renfrewshire and achieving their four key priorities: • Ending food insecurity and the need for foodbanks. • Increasing access and availability of growing grounds in every town and village within Renfrewshire. • Widening access and availability to educational opportunities regarding nutrition and cooking skills, and wider use of ‘home economics’ type classes within education, health, and community settings. • Encouraging individuals and businesses to buy local food, and also encourage organisations to place more emphasis on the better value of using local food suppliers within a procurement policy context The food partnership brings together key stakeholders from right across the local food system including the local authority, Renfrewshire HSCP, Health Board, third sector and community groups, public sector establishments and food growers to develop a healthier, fairer and more sustainable food system locally. Fair Food Renfrewshire has been a member of Sustainable Food Places since 2024, giving the partnership access to additional support and expertise from regional and national partners. Partnership coordinators meet with Nourish Scotland and other local food partnerships on a regular basis to share updates and best practice.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 44 PUBLIC Fair Food Renfrewshire has established a food support working group made up of representatives from local emergency and community food providers such as Renfrewshire Foodbank and community larders and pantries. The purpose of the forum is to identify and solve issues for those suffering from food insecurity and those providing emergency and community food, exploring opportunities for collaborative working, knowledge sharing and identifying key priorities, including ensuring culturally appropriate food is available and healthy food is promoted. Opportunities to collaborate in community food growing and providing cooking and nutritional skills classes are also being explored. The group is continuing to work develop a collaborative and sustainable model of food provision in Renfrewshire to support those experiencing food insecurity with an improved holistic approach. Community Food Framework – Community Food Education During 2025/26, Renfrewshire HSCP developed and commenced delivery of a Community Food Education pilot, funded through NHSGGC Public Health. The pilot responds to findings from the Health and Wellbeing Survey and engagement with the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel, which highlighted food insecurity alongside gaps in food literacy, confidence and understanding of healthy eating within the context of cost‑of‑living pressures. As part of the pilot, small grants of up to £10,000 were awarded to ten community and third sector organisations, including food pantries and local food initiatives. Funding supports organisations to embed food education within existing provision, shifting focus from food provision alone to building skills, knowledge and confidence. Delivery is supported by the HSCP Health Improvement Team through shared tools, resources and facilitation. The Community Food Education pilot will continue to be delivered with funded organisations during 2026/27 and monitoring and evaluation returns will be collated to evidence the impact on food literacy, confidence and affordability. Learning from the pilot will be used to inform development of a sustainable model and support potential roll‑out across NHSGGC. Emergency Infant Feeding Pathway Directive from NHSGGC Public Health Maternal and Infant Nutrition Group identified the need for all HSCP areas across the Health Board to develop and implement an Emergency Infant Feeding Pathway. This pathway is based on guidance published by UNICEF and the Scottish Government.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 45 PUBLIC The Emergency Infant Feeding Pathway in Renfrewshire provides short‑term financial support to families experiencing acute financial pressure to ensure infants can be safely fed. The pathway supports early identification, rapid response and follow‑up to prevent escalation to wider crisis. During 2025/26, 19 referrals were received, with the majority originating from Health Visiting. Coordination through the Family Wellbeing Service ensured families received timely support and were connected to wider advice and family support services where appropriate. The pathway documents, including referral form and SOP, sit on the Pregnancy, Maternity and Early-Years webpage hosted by Engage Renfrewshire, so they are easily accessible for staff. The pathway will continue to be promoted during 2026/27 across health and advice services to support early identification and rapid response. Referral patterns and outcomes will be monitored to ensure timely access and alignment with wider family support pathways. Energy support Supported in part by Fairer Renfrewshire funding, Renfrewshire Council’s Energy Management Unit comprises a team who provide advice to anyone struggling with energy costs and advocate for clients with energy companies. The advisers can also access available funds to support clients reduce bills/access emergency fuel. In 25/26 there were over 500 referrals to the Energy Management Unit and of those, 45 had children under the age of 16 in the household. In total, 70 children under the age of 16 lived in households that were given support. Energy Advocates have been working with the Fuel Bank Foundation since late 2025, allowing them to provide fuel vouchers to those in emergency situations. 5.8 Digital For specific groups of people there remain real barriers to accessing digital which exacerbate existing inequalities. Digital exclusion can broadly be considered in terms of connectivity, access to a device, skills and the ability to engage safely and positively online. Renfrewshire has a strong reputation nationally for its partnership and place-based approach to tackling digital exclusion and has continued to be strengthened throughout 2025/26. Renfrewshire Council was the only local authority in Scotland to be named as an exemplar in the refreshed national digital strategy. Digital Strategy
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 46 PUBLIC The Council's Digital Strategy 2025-2030 was approved during 2025/26 and includes a dedicated strategic theme on Digital Inclusion. By prioritising digital inclusion, the Council aims to bridge the digital divide that disproportionately affects children from low-income families. This priority aims to ensure that residents can access appropriate digital tools, connectivity and skills which will enhance their opportunities and future prospects. Key actions include promoting affordable internet access, distributing digital devices, and expanding community-based digital support. These efforts are crucial in mitigating the impact of poverty and overall well-being, ensuring that everyone in Renfrewshire can thrive in an increasingly digital world. DigiRen Network – Information for organisations supporting families The DigiRen Network promotes digital tools, guidance and resources that local organisations can cascade directly to the families and individuals they support. This approach helps ensure that families affected by child poverty receive timely and reliable information on financial and digital support, for example on Family Fund Scotland programmes and Ofcom guidance on Broadband Social Tariffs. DigiKnowVember Renfrewshire’s Digital Inclusion event, DigiKnowVember expanded in 2025 from a week-long programme to a full month of digital inclusion activity delivered throughout November. This initiative offers a series of free events and workshops designed to enhance digital skills and awareness. A total of 174 events were registered, with 164 delivered across the region, resulting in more than 1,250 interactions. Over 80 per cent of events were delivered in person, helping to remove access barriers for families who may lack confidence, connectivity or digital skills. Many events focused specifically on families, children and young people, covering online safety, digital skills development and inclusive access to technology. Funding to support DigiKnowVember was approved as part of the Council’s 2026/27 budget, with planning already underway for DigiKnowVember 2026. DigiZones Significant progress has continued through the DigiZones programme, which provides free, place-based access to devices, Wi-Fi and digital support across Renfrewshire. The DigiZones Early Implementer Evaluation Report, covering the period January to December 2025, was finalised during 2025/26. The evaluation framework was co-designed with delivery organisations and combines qualitative and quantitative measures of impact. During the evaluation period, DigiZones recorded more than 96,000 visits, delivered over 800 training sessions and nearly 1,000 hours of digital champion support. Thousands of device accesses and public Wi-Fi sessions were recorded.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 47 PUBLIC DigiZones play a critical role in tackling child poverty by reducing barriers to digital access, supporting parents and carers to develop skills, and enabling families to engage with critical areas such as employability and public services. Continued Council funding for DigiZones was approved as part of the 2026/27 budget, with work underway to open the next funding round. Public Wi-Fi and Connectivity Renfrewshire is regarded as one of the best connected regions in the UK in terms of its connectivity infrastructure and Renfrewshire Council recognises connectivity as a critical enabler for effective digital inclusion. The full rollout of the public WI-FI programme has delivered free across up to 180 Council, cultural, leisure and community venues as well as in town centres. Connectivity is also available in children’s homes, care homes, sheltered housing and social care facilities. Increased bandwidth across our learning estate allows faster access to digital learning resources, with WI-FI available both within and beyond classrooms, enabling children and young people to continue learning online while on school grounds. These measures help mitigate the impact of digital poverty for children with limited connectivity at home. Pachedu E-Quality Access - Device Reuse During 2025/26, the Council supported the launch of Pachedu E-Quality Access, a community-led, pre-loved device reuse project. Council officers worked alongside the local charity Pachedu to develop an end-to-end reuse model that enables donated devices to be refurbished and redistributed to people experiencing digital exclusion. The project launched on 6 March 2026 and received fifteen donated devices within its first week. The initiative directly supports families who do not have access to a suitable digital device, helping to reduce the impact of device poverty. Families are also signposted to local digital skills and connectivity support where required. Digital Champions Project The Digital Champions Project has continued to demonstrate strong positive impact across Renfrewshire communities and remains supported through the Fairer Renfrewshire programme. During 2025, the project delivered support to 925 learners through 568 sessions across nine libraries. A total of 180 people from low-income households received free data and voice SIM cards, with more than 1,200 months of data issued, equating to over 41 Terabytes. The project has also built a committed volunteer base of 35 digital champions, who collectively delivered almost 1,000 hours of support. This work directly contributes to tackling child poverty by reducing digital costs for families and supporting parents and carers to access online services, benefits and educational resources.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 48 PUBLIC A recent internal evaluation found that the service has resulted in increased confidence and skills in using digital devices by creating accessible spaces for people to learn. Through Digital Champions there is increased engagement at a local level, supporting people to develop basic ‘core’ digital skills and raising awareness of the availability of social tariffs. The team work closely with the Council’s Invest programme linking their volunteers to additional employment support and opportunities for further training, as well as providing volunteering experience for people working with Invest to get back into employment. Broadband ‘Social Tariffs’ There is recognition that Broadband ‘Social Tariffs’ remains a barrier to helping people and families get online, both in terms of cost and also awareness. These are cheaper broadband and phone packages for people claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit and some other benefits. The latest OfCom figures reveal that fewer than 10% of eligible families across the UK were taking up these reduced cost tariffs. Low uptake continues to present a barrier for families experiencing financial hardship, increasing the risk of digital exclusion for children who require internet access for learning and school engagement. Throughout 2025/26, the Council has continued to promote social tariffs through DigiRen Network communications and partner networks in order to improve awareness and support take-up among eligible families. Strategic and Community Benefits Approach Digital inclusion is now embedded within Renfrewshire Council’s Community Benefits Menu, enabling suppliers to contribute to digital inclusion outcomes through contracted activity. In addition, funding secured through community benefit obligations will support the delivery of a Council tenant digital champion programme during 2026/27. Strategic capacity has also been strengthened through the continued role of the Digital Strategy Delivery Manager and the recruitment of a Digital Assistant (Modern Apprentice) in March 2025, reinforcing the Council’s long-term commitment to digital inclusion. 5.9 Winter Connections The Winter Connections programme has been running during the winter months since November 2022. The programme, which is delivered in partnership with local organisations, aims to encourage people to connect and participate in activities in warm and welcoming spaces across communities in Renfrewshire.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 49 PUBLIC Local community and voluntary organisations can apply for small grants of up to £2,000 to support with the additional costs of making venues, activities and sessions open as part of the programme. Items eligible for funding include equipment, food, energy costs, and rent. The programme has been evaluated each year and has positively contributed to Renfrewshire Council’s continued wider response to the cost-of-living crisis. As a result, in February 2025, £75,000 of funding was allocated from the Fairer Renfrewshire programme to support the delivery of a fourth year of Winter Connections for 2025/26. The programme continues to attract new organisations bidding for funding, with this year’s programme being delivered by a mix of organisation that have received funding before, and those new to Winter Connections. Funded activities need to fit the criteria of Winter Connections and be: • Open, free and easy to access • Inclusive, welcoming, respectful, and safe • Able or willing to provide connections to other services and supports • Able to offer warm drinks/snacks/food along with activities, where possible The assessment panel comprises representatives from the Council, HSCP and third sector to ensure a transparent cross sector approach, and 37 projects were funded across Renfrewshire, alongside funding for One Ren to support the programme by providing hot drinks, soup, and snacks in all Renfrewshire libraries and a selection of games and jigsaws to support extra play sessions in a couple of libraries. Winter Connections branded materials, including posters and stickers as well as leaflets with advice on where to find support with financial worries were also distributed to organisations participating in the programme along with free period products. This year’s programme delivered a wide range of activities, some of which were tailored to the age/needs of those attending. Some activities were open to everyone and aimed to attract families and multiple generations, however some organisations focussed specifically on delivering sessions for children and younger people . Activities included: • Youth club • Basic cooking class • Exercise activities for young mums • Arts & crafts • Homework/after school club • Fun events for Halloween/Christmas
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 50 PUBLIC Evaluation has shown that over 1,300 people benefitted from the programme in a number of ways, including the provision of free food alongside activities ensuring that the programme discretely supported families who are continuing to experience financial hardship. The free access was a big part of it working. Families didn’t have to think twice about whether they could afford to come. That removed a huge barrier straight away and meant we reached people who wouldn’t normally access this kind of space. Just Dive In Families consistently told us that knowing a warm meal would be available made it easier to attend, reduced the stress of providing breakfast on tight budgets and created a relaxed, sociable start to each session. As a result, we saw strong and consistent attendance across all groups, with some sessions requiring waiting lists. Home-Start Renfrewshire and Inverclyde 5.10 Summer of Fun In February 2025, core funding of £100,000 was allocated through the Fairer Renfrewshire programme to support the development of a summer holiday programme, with a focus on providing fun activities, support and healthy food over the holiday period to low-income families. This built on the previous two year’s successful Summer of Fun and the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel provided feedback on strengthening the programme. A small grants programme was delivered using £50,000 of the funding, allocated to local community groups and organisations. They delivered free activities over the summer holidays reaching communities that might be underserved by mainstream activities, particularly low-income families. Renfrewshire’s Community Learning and Development team used the remaining £50,000 to develop a programme of activities for children and young people through a summer camp model in partnership with Street Stuff, and with the provision of a healthy meal. Summer Additional Support Needs (ASN) provision was located at Riverbrae School, with 3rd sector organisation, KLAS Care, funded to provide some places as part of wider work through the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund. In addition, One Ren delivered a free summer programme in the libraries and with the Skoobmobile team. 20 organisations received funding through the small grants programme. A wide range of engaging activities aimed at different ages and often including day trips to places of interest, resulted in a
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 51 PUBLIC successful programme that enabled children and young people to try new activities and make memories with their families. The removal of financial barriers to participation and the welcoming and inclusive nature of activities created an accessible programme for families. The programme worked well because it was free for families to attend, which removed financial barriers and meant everyone could take part regardless of circumstances. Offering a mix of activities such as cinema trips, soft play, and arts & crafts gave children plenty of choice and kept them engaged. Providing food alongside the activities worked particularly well, as it helped ease pressure on families during the holidays and made the days feel like a complete experience. Parents appreciated the chance to spend quality time with their children, while children enjoyed trying new things, making friends, and having fun in a safe and supportive environment. Stronger Communities Glenburn Renfrewshire’s Community Learning and Development team’s summer camp model offered places to children and young people in six venues across Renfrewshire. Work was undertaken to prioritise access to camp bookings to families with low incomes, especially in the child poverty priority groups and through referrals from Childrens Services before opening up access more widely. A programme was developed offering several core activities and targeted to young people aged 5 to 14 years whose families received the school clothing grant, in addition to separately funded youth work provision, a youth voice and participation programme, sports activities and youth bus delivered by Street Stuff. The approach built on the successes from previous summer programmes and the partnership working between services. Care was taken to work closely with services such as Social Work, Education and other partners to identify families and young people that would particularly benefit from organised summer activities and to signpost them towards and sign them up for universal activities. The aim was to develop a programme of integrated provision to address the barriers and isolation faced by people in the most deprived areas, but at the same time open to families across Renfrewshire, concentrating on the Scottish Government’s child poverty priority groups. Street Stuff continued to deliver their core programme of activities in the evenings from Monday to Saturday for young people aged 8 to 16 throughout the summer holidays which also included the provision of healthy food funded by Fairer Renfrewshire. For children with additional support needs attending activities at Riverbrae, the aim was to provide activities that focussed on providing a welcoming, fun and safe environment, allowing children and young people to build good relationships with staff and other children and young people who
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 52 PUBLIC attended the playscheme. A nurse was available two days per week for children who required a higher level of support/complex medical needs. There were arts and crafts activities, games and play opportunities offered indoors for children who enjoyed this. Assigned quiet areas offered low stimulation, with tents, soft furnishings and quiet activities for children and young people who required this type of environment. The Riverbrae camp also offered free transport to and from the venue to maximise opportunities and support for families during the summer holiday period. Places in the Adult and Family Learning Programme were offered to families of learners that face multiple barriers and who are already engaged with the service. Families enjoyed a variety of indoor and outdoor activities, including a trip to the Science Centre. An ESOL specific group offered families fun ways to practice English by taking part in activites and games that helped to build vocabulary and boost confidence. Renfrewshire Libraries ran their own summer programme and linked it to the annual Summer Reading Challenge in which 1,571 children took part. All activities were free and focussed on using recyclable materials and items that were easily sourced. Over the summer holidays they delivered a range of events for children and families in their libraries, which covered areas where no Summer of Fun activity was being delivered. OneRen received £1,227 from Fairer Renfrewshire to purchase healthy snacks and drinks such as popcorn, cereal bars, juice and hot chocolate for children visiting the Skoobmobile and for all 12 Renfrewshire libraries, which were really appreciated by families. Skoobmobile provided access to library activities in areas where there was no other local provision, either through libraries, Camps or the grant funded programme. The Skoobmobile offered families free access to different play and crafting opportunities without having to travel or make reservations. The Fairer Renfrewshire Programme provided funding for new toy provision to be used by families, thus boosting the offer of the service. Feedback from the small grants programme suggests that the programme benefited around 726 adults and 2,233 children by providing inclusive, safe environments for children to participate in activities, make friends and create lasting memories with their families. In addition, there were 1,973 attendances at the holiday camps and 1,800 at Street Stuff, while the Adult and Family Learning team supported 61 families in Renfrewshire. ASN provision at Riverbrae supported 195 families. Evaluation of the programme found that the wide variety of activities were well spread out across Renfrewshire and reached many families who would not normally be able to afford to attend a summer programme. It also provided access to food, activities, and advice, providing support in a dignified manner which reduced the potential for stigma.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 53 PUBLIC Reaching Child Poverty Priority Groups By their nature, the ASN holiday provision was attended only by those families with a disabled child, so all falling within that priority group. For summer camps, families receiving School Clothing Grants were advised of the camps by text message and we able to book places first, before the camps were opened to wider bookings. This ensured they were targeted at low income families. Attendees of the camps were as follows: Category Yes Responses % of Families Lone parent families 289 out of 807 35.8 Families with 3 or more children 278 out of 801 34.7 Families with a disability 181 out of 800 22.6 Black and minority ethnic families 72 out of 800 9.0 Families with a child under 1 65 out of 812 8.0 Families with parents under 25 9 out of 818 1.1 The aim of the small grants programme overall was to provide a range of activities that would be accessible to low-income families across Renfrewshire, in particular supporting families in the six child poverty priority groups, who are at higher risk of living on a low-income as well as Care Experienced young people. All 19 small grants funded projects that provided feedback responded that they had managed to reach these families through their activities. Just over a fifth of projects (21%) were able to reach families in all of the child poverty priority groups and those with care experience, whilst 89% of projects were able to reach families in four or more of the six child poverty priority groups. Over a third of projects (37%) managed to reach six of the seven priority groups. Projects were most successful at reaching the following families: • lone parents (100%) • families with three or more children (95%)
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 54 PUBLIC • families where someone in the house has a disability (95%) • black and minority ethnic families (84%) Over half of organisations managed to reach families with a child aged under one year old (58%) and 53% of organisations reached care experienced children and young people. 5.11 Street Stuff Utilising £182,000 of Council funding, St Mirren Football Club delivers our Street Stuff programme, which provides free multi-sport, gaming and Youth Club activities for children aged 8 – 16 across Renfrewshire up to six evenings a week and at weekends throughout the year. Street Stuff youth buses have free Wi-Fi to ensure young people aren’t digitally excluded and provide games consoles, iPads and a seating area for young people to sit and chat with other young people and staff. Delivering in the community gives young people across Renfrewshire access to exercise and social activities, including football, basketball and dance, that they may otherwise not have the chance to take part in. They also provide/support school holiday programmes for ages 5 – 14 which includes the provision of a healthy meal. Street Stuff delivery is regularly reviewed to ensure they are provided in the areas most at need and the buses are also used for small group work sessions and informal youth work intervention. The sessions are a great way for young people to get out, take part in sport and meet new friends in a safe and positive environment with the opportunity to access volunteer and employment pathways. Street Stuff supports young people to move from participation to volunteering and into employment. We also work with Invest to support traineeship opportunities for different age groups where possible. 5.12 Period Products This year, the service providing period products within communities and the service providing products in schools continue to work closely together to coordinate and promote provision across Renfrewshire. Although schools are provided with products, through stigma, there can be a reluctance for young people to use this service. To ensure widest distribution of products to young people, all
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 55 PUBLIC community groups engaged with young people, including scouts, guides and YMCAs have been sent details of our period product ordering, and invited to bulk order for their service users/members. We have also provided options to order reusable products such as period pants with these groups, as well as showcasing these with different groups, for example, Adult and Family learning groups based in our local community centres. As part of a wider promotion of reusable products, we have carried out a number of ‘Reusables Roadshows’ at libraries and events across Renfrewshire, including at the Health and Wellbeing network event, school health events and a Cost-of-Living event. We have also ensured our Youth Team and Community Learning and development venues have supplies of products. We continue to provide period products in libraries, leisure centres and town halls, and our targeted provision in 3rd sector organisations who work with families such as Home-Start. We have also continued provision of products, single use and reusable, at Renfrewshire’s Foodbank and community pantries. Our Winter Connections and Summer of Fun venues were offered free products and many have now signed up to keep a permanent supply for their service users or the wider public. We will continue to look for opportunities for extending provision within our communities. 5.13 Cash-first approaches to supporting families Scottish Welfare Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments Locally, we continue to administer both the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) and Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP). Families in need of emergency support are encouraged to apply for crisis grants where appropriate, rather than other, non-cash supports. Over 25/26, RCAB staff were located in Renfrewshire Foodbank to help clients resolve issues which led them to use the Foodbank, and also direct to crisis or other grants where available. In 25/26 we topped up our DHPs by £450,000 and for 26/27 we are topping up the DHP budget by £200,000 and the SWF budget by £600,000 which will allow us to support more individuals and families on a cash first basis. Winter Clothing Payment For the fifth year running, funding was allocated to provide a £50 payment per child for winter clothing for children in receipt of School Clothing Grant. At the Council’s 2025 Budget meeting,
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 56 PUBLIC £275,000 was allocated to these payments and paid in October 2025. This payment has been well received and will be repeated in Winter 2026, with again, £275,000 allocated in the 2026/27 Budget. We have also administered cash payments of £2.35 per day, per child for free school meals for the periods of times children have been on school holidays. The payment is made at a flat rate regardless of age and is paid before the start of the summer holidays. 5.14 National Entitlement Card and Free Bus Travel Around 89% of eligible under 22s in Renfrewshire have access to free bus travel via the National Entitlement Card (NEC) scheme and 66% of eligible 5–11-year-olds have a Junior NEC with free bus travel, saving families money on transport costs. Barriers to access have been removed for targeted groups of young people by setting up application agreements with partners such as Invest, Blue Triangle, Kibble, The Good Shepherd Centre, Social Work, Family and Wellbeing Teams, and Housing. This removes the burden from young people to collect documentation and helps make sure access is as fair as possible. Extra support has been put in place to help boost uptake of the Junior NEC, offering parents a manual form to complete within primary schools. The delivery of a targeted bulk application process for Primary 7 pupils has supported 1,923 pupils to either apply for a new Young Scot NEC or upgrade their existing Junior card. This removes the cost burden for families of providing documentation or paying for passport photographs by arranging photography in schools. The Youth Team, who support sign up for the NEC and free bus travel have provided direct support to our ASN schools. Both Riverbrae and Mary Russell have received direct support for all pupils to access the Junior or Young Scot card with free bus travel. While a Disabled NEC card cannot be provided locally, schools are provided with information packs to ensure that parents of pupils who need this card type get clear information and instructions on how to apply. The Young Scot National Entitlement card can be used as part proof for opening a bank account with some banks, is accepted by Renfrewshire Council’s Housing service for tenancy agreement proofs and will be an accepted form of proof for voting under the new legal requirement. It is also used in our local ‘Celebrating Renfrewshire’ participatory budgeting fund where people aged 12 – 25 have a direct say on which projects are funded in their local area.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 57 PUBLIC 5.15 Housing Renfrewshire’s Housing Strategy, approved in October 2023, has five strategic priorities. Each priority has a range of actions that will support delivery over the next five years. The five strategic priorities are: 1. The supply and delivery of housing is increased across all tenures to meet the housing needs of different groups and create attractive and sustainable places. 2. People live in high quality, well managed homes in sustainable neighbourhoods. 3. Address the challenges of the climate emergency, delivering homes that are warm, energy efficient and fuel poverty is minimised. 4. Prevention of homelessness and providing support for those in housing need. 5. People can live independently for as long as possible in their own home and the different housing needs of people across Renfrewshire are being met. The actions underpinning the priorities include: • continuing to provide good quality fuel poverty advice, income maximisation and information to Council tenants, owners and private tenants. • continuing to strengthen the approach to prevention and repeat homelessness by providing holistic wraparound support to households in Renfrewshire. • ensuring new build homes are energy efficient, and retrofitting existing social rented homes with measures to improve energy efficiency , which will support reduction in energy bills as well as emissions, and • working towards meeting national fuel poverty targets. In 25/26, the number of service users supported via a Housing First approach has increased substantially to support 93 individuals to move into (and then sustain) a tenancy. The Housing Support team launched a ‘Housing Support 2 Go’ (HS2GO) winter initiative towards the end of 2025. Housing Support Officers attended two staffed accommodation sites as well as going out into the community to visit people they support to offer warm food and snacks to help with the cost of living and fuel poverty crisis. This also provided a further opportunity to discuss/ review any ongoing or new support needs and provide information on services who can offer additional advice and assistance throughout the winter months. The project, which was delivered in partnership with Blue Triangle Housing Association along with funding provided by Paisley churches, proved to be very popular. A pilot service ‘Opening Doors’ was launched during 2025 in partnership with the RCA Trust, and has grown to support 23 individuals and families to stabilise their housing situation, access wraparound care and achieve personal goals. The impact of this initiative will be reviewed during 2026.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 58 PUBLIC The Refugee Resettlement team have been working in partnership with Skills Development Scotland to find a route to recognise and convert qualifications gained in Ukraine to be recognised in Scotland. This involved working with interpreters to convert documents and identify modules which when completed would allow these qualifications to be recognised by the SQA, and employment and training opportunities have now been improved for a number of those displaced from Ukraine. The Refugee Resettlement team also continue to work in close partnership with Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau, supporting individuals and families with specialist benefits, visa and legal advice. A new post of Health and Wellbeing Coordinator joined the team and a wide range of advice and wellbeing activities to support resettlement and integration are now offered including: • Know Your Rights – Information sessions with guest speakers, designed to support better understanding of services, systems and life in Scotland • Befriending Service - For those who are struggling with feelings of loneliness and isolation • Digital Inclusion Support – to empower service users to develop skills on devices, stay safe online, access online services, manage money and access educational and employment opportunities • Wellbeing Drop-in – Coffee and conversation with the wellbeing team and other community members • Smudges - a sensory-play art group for toddlers and parents. The Resettlement Team currently support 244 refugee households across Renfrewshire. Housing Led Regeneration and Renewal Programme Significant progress is being made in line with the delivery timeframe for Renfrewshire Council’s 10- year Housing Led Regeneration and Renewal Programme, which will improve council housing by creating modern, affordable, high-quality, energy-efficient council homes with eight regeneration areas identified. This programme is being taken forward as a key Council priority, designed to deliver maximum benefits for residents and with the active involvement of services across the Council and Community Planning partners, to deliver modern, high quality, energy efficient, affordable Council housing that will not only significantly enhance the Council’s housing stock but will also contribute to the wider transformation of communities across Renfrewshire. The programme will make major improvements to existing buildings, but also consider how to improve the wider environment, including outside and communal areas, and how to keep fuel bills
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 59 PUBLIC down by making homes more energy-efficient. As well as improvements to existing homes, around 350 new council homes are being built across four areas. Each regeneration area has a dedicated Housing Regeneration Officer and Development Officer with responsibility for the delivery of key actions, including the effective communication with tenants, residents, and private owners. The Council’s website has a dedicated Housing Regeneration and Renewal section, and this is updated regularly to ensure that residents can access current and up to date information as and when they require it. Neighbourhood Renewal Groups are continuing to be established to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to developing neighbourhood renewal plans that consider wider issues than just housing and the immediate environment. These groups ensure that maximum benefits from housing regeneration are delivered such as links to health and wellbeing, access to outdoor space and sustainable travel and employment or training opportunities. This approach aims to strengthen community voices and improve place-based decision making across all regeneration areas in Renfrewshire to enhance the impact of the physical regeneration programme. Rent Collection Our approach to rent collection ensures that Officers have continued to proactively contact tenants where there has been missed rent payments or changes to rent payment patterns to offer advice on accessing benefits and other support services as appropriate. A Tenant Support Fund was launched in October 2023, which has continued into 25/26. The Fund is intended to supplement the current rent collection process to alleviate existing and emerging financial stress, prevent and reduce escalating rent arrears and contribute to sustaining Council tenancies in Renfrewshire. The Fund supports tenants experiencing financial difficulty, through no fault of their own, where it has been identified that financial challenges exist due to a change of circumstances including, but not limited to: • Increase in household costs / cost of living (eg. energy, food, fuel, rent). • Reduction in income (eg. loss of employment, reduced hours, loss of a household member). • Changes to Welfare benefit, Housing Benefit and/or Universal Credit. As part of our existing rent collection process, tenants are encouraged to engage with the housing team at the earliest opportunity if they are experiencing difficulties in paying rent. A wide range of advice and support is available to help tenants to meet their rent payment responsibilities and to manage household budgets that will be under increased pressure at this time. In recognition of these continuing pressures, in addition to the introduction of the Tenant Support Fund, as part of the budgetary process on 2 March 2023, Council agreed to fund additional service
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 60 PUBLIC provision in the form of Specialist Income Advice to allow for exclusive support to tenants in hardship. Apart from benefits checks and support when an application to the Scottish Welfare Fund or for a Discretionary Housing Payment should be made, the specialist Income Advisors and Housing Staff are able to make a referral to the local Housing Team to consider the appropriateness of making a payment from the Tenant’s Support Fund. A decision on the award of Tenant’s Support Fund is made as soon as possible following engagement with the tenant and payment is made directly into the tenant’s rent account. Income maximisation assessments are carried out to support tenants to meet their long-term rent payment responsibilities. In 2025/26, 266 tenants have been referred for Tenant Support Fund assessments, which have the added value of full income assessment and advice provision and 151 qualified for assistance from the fund to a value of approximately £41,386. Through the additional advice, several sources of additional assistance have been accessed which include Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Disability Benefits, as well as food vouchers for those in a crisis situation. In monetary terms this equates to £15,735 between April 2025 and 31 March 2026. Ask and Act During 2025/26, Renfrewshire HSCP secured Scottish Government funding to pilot local delivery of ‘Ask and Act’ ahead of new homelessness prevention duties. The funding supports a time‑limited pilot approach, enabling testing and learning prior to wider implementation. Delivery commenced in November 2025 and focused on establishing the conditions required to pilot Ask and Act safely and effectively. This included development of local pathways and agreement of governance arrangements, with oversight provided through the Community Planning Partnership. The pilot will be co‑developed with people with lived experience, including engagement with the Fairer Renfrewshire Lived Experience Panel, as delivery progresses. The pilot initially focuses on community‑based mental health and wellbeing services, reflecting the close relationship between housing insecurity, financial hardship and mental health. The aim of the pilot phase is to understand how Ask and Act can be embedded within routine practice in a proportionate, trauma‑informed way, and to generate practical learning to inform future roll‑out. The pilot will be progressed into frontline delivery during 2026, with continued monitoring and learning. Learning from the pilot will be used to inform future implementation, scale‑up and alignment with statutory homelessness prevention duties, including contribution to national toolkit and guidance development to support national implementation planned for 2028.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 61 PUBLIC 5.16 Family Friendly Working To support employees with families at risk of child poverty both Renfrewshire Council and NHSGGC have a range of family-friendly working policies and supports. Council staff have access to support around wellbeing and financial wellbeing, with a dedicated online employee wellbeing hub, regular newsletters and a series of webinars covering varied topics, including advice and affordable credit. Flexible working and work-patterns across the Council support those with childcare responsibilities, and there is also support for those with caring responsibilities as well as a Carers Connected Forum. Throughout 2025/26 NHSGGC Staff have had access to the following: • Staff Hardship Fund • Delivery of 6 Home Energy Scotland (HES) sessions, which were attended by 12 staff members, and covered different topics around managing energy costs • Delivery of 6 Credit Union sessions, which were attended by 23 staff members • Access to the All About Money webpage which provides information and resources around money management and was updated with a new Staff Money and Advice App • Promotion of activities and resources via core brief, Staff Hub, staff events, leaflets, posters. • Training in ‘Financial Inclusion Awareness’ delivered to 17 Occupation Health staff • Quarterly Payslip messaging about money advice support During 2026/27, NHS GGC plan to continue delivering the above. 6 Theme 3: Supporting the next generation to thrive 6.1 Fairer Renfrewshire Programme Renfrewshire’s Fairer Renfrewshire programme supports a number of projects which help our young people thrive and help break down some of the barriers to attainment. The programme:
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 62 PUBLIC • Provides £75,000 Cost of the School Day funding which is used by head teachers as discretionary spend to meet the needs of their pupils • Provides funding for Breakfast Clubs in schools in some of our most deprived areas, relieving financial pressure on low-income families, but most importantly, making sure that children start the school day ready to learn. • Funds the Peer Health project in partnership with Active Communities, working with young people in secondary schools across Renfrewshire to identify key health priorities in their school and developing young people to lead their own activities to improve health and wellbeing, with a focus on mental health. • Supports Summer of Fun holiday activities via Community Learning and Development summer camps and a small grants programme, along with the provision of free healthy meals. • Ensures the Skoobmobile continues to provide a children’s mobile public library service, including play sessions directly to children and families in communities • Supports dedicated income maximisation and welfare rights advice for families with children of all ages as well as pregnant women. Breakfast Clubs are part of a number of schools, some of which are funded through the Fairer Renfrewshire Programme and others which are funded through other means or organised by individual schools. In 25/26, 68,551 free breakfasts were provided to children through Fairer Renfrewshire funded breakfast clubs. Breakfast Clubs support parents with their working schedules and with the family budget. Breakfast Clubs have also been found to have an impact on children’s learning, with teaching practitioners recognising impacts, such as children being ready to learn and improved concentration and focus in those attending breakfast clubs. Skoobmobile The Skoobmobile plays an important role in providing a mobile public library service in areas where public libraries are not available or are less accessible. This service aims to help improve children’s life chances by encouraging a lasting interest in reading, literacy, physical activity and learning. This year, Skoobmobile has provided a full programme of library access, nursery and school visits, bedtime reading and Bookbug sessions, attendance at gala days and outreach provision in communities. The Skoobmobile staff also worked closely with the Whole Family Wellbeing Service to add value to their service.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 63 PUBLIC During 2025/26 the outreach service has carried out 434 visits engaging with 9,530 children and 2,094 adults. The service has also been instrumental in encouraging families to join Renfrewshire Libraries, with 225 new registrations and 2,188 books borrowed over the year. In Autumn, public Wi-Fi was installed onboard the Skoobmobile which is now a Digizone offering free Wi-Fi access throughout Renfrewshire. Staff are also working with Digital Champions about offering support at outreach visits to promote the databank, digital assistance and onboard Wi-Fi. The bus is also in great demand during the school holidays, giving families free access to activities without having to travel or make and keep reservations. It is an important part of the Council’s Summer of Fun programme, providing flexibility to deliver services in areas where there are no other activities being delivered. In summer 2025, funding was allocated through Fairer Renfrewshire to Renfrewshire’s Toy Library, which allowed new smaller toys and games to be purchased which sould be used as part fo the Skoobmobile service. This also encouraged interest in the toy library as a no cost source of toys and games for families. At its budget meeting in February 26, the Council committed £300,000 to fund a replacement vehicle, recognising that the current model of service provision also requires modernisation into a sustainable, flexible outreach service. This work to consider the a longer term sustainable service delivery model was already identified within the Fairer Renfrewshire Action Plan, and officers will continue to work with OneRen colleagues to progress this. A recent evaluation highlighted the importance of the Skoobmobile in providing flexibility to deliver services where they are needed and the nurturing environment created onboard in building good relationships with parents. Children see the bus and staff as a safe and trusted place. Feedback from visitors over the summer holidays indicated that 96% of visitors enjoyed their visit onboard and 78% agreed that the Skoobmobile increased reading for their child over the holiday period. “We really enjoyed the bedtime reading sessions. It has been very engaging and has increased my child’s enjoyment for reading”. Parent feedback Peer Health Hearty Lives delivers a peer-led approach to promoting mental health and wellbeing across all Renfrewshire High Schools. The project is managed by third sector organisation, Active Communities, delivered by teachers and pupils in high schools and in the community by youth
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 64 PUBLIC workers. The partnership aims to tackle poverty through a peer education approach and pupils are trained and supported to become Peer Health Educators, leading activities in their schools which support healthy living, for example, mental health, healthy eating, drugs and alcohol, physical activity and sexual health. In 2025, 190 Peer Educators were recruited and trained, engaging with 5573 peers. Key issues being addressed by the project included bullying, body image, exam stress, low self- eteem, anxiety, self-care, and promoting positive mental health and schools train their peer educators, with examples being: • Basic Mental Mealth Awareness (Trinity High) • Mentors in Violence Prevention (Paisley Grammar) • Mental health and vaping (Linwood High) • Additional Support Needs (St Andrew’s Acadmey) Schools are linking their Hearty Lives projects to: Saltire Awards, L6 Leadership Awards and Duke of Edinburgh Awards. The Peer educators design and develop their own initiatives, allowing activities to be tailored to the needs of the young people at that school. Schools have delivered targeted assemblies focussing on mental health, run breakfast and lunchtime drop ins to allow younger pupils to connect with peers and explore new hobbies and distributied self-care packs to pupils transitioning to high school. At one school peer educators contributed to shaping their school’s new anti-bullying policy. A recent evaluation found that the Hearty Lives programme has raised awareness of mental health issues and has improved understanding of the issues affecting young people in each school. Peer educators have enjoyed being mentors to younger pupils and have increased confidence due to their training and delivery of workshops and lunchtime clubs. Participation in the programme has equipped peer educators with several skills that will be helpful for future volunteering and work experience, including organisation, communication and leadership skills. The programme has also led to pupils reflecting on their own mental health and, in some cases, benefiting from sharing these experiences with others. The project has a community arm which is an extension of the schools work and is delivered by Active Communities at a lunchtime youth drop in in Linwood High and at Station Seven in Johnstone after school on Wednesdays. Hearty Lives also supports the Create Club in Station Seven on a Thursday after school, and Games and Grub for P5 – P7 of St Margaret’s Primary, where pupils come along straight after school to play games, do arts and crafts and have a warm two course meal.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 65 PUBLIC “One of our peer educators is a young person who is care experienced. This pupil presents as extremely joyful and confident within school but outside of school has struggled with anxiety and attachment and as a result can be particularly vulnerable. They are the most motivated pupil I have ever had involved as a Peer Mentor. She greatly benefited from the feeling of belonging to this group and was able to build her own self esteem by helping others and being able to share her experiences and difficulties.” Mary Russell School Project Leader "I’ve really enjoyed being a wellbeing ambassador. It felt good being someone younger pupils could talk to if they needed help or just someone to listen. I liked being part of raising awareness about mental health and looking after your own wellbeing — it even made me think more about mine Peer Educator Health and Wellbeing Survey Community Response Following publication of the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health and Wellbeing Survey 2022 to 2023, partners progressed a community‑led response to ensure findings informed local understanding and coordinated action. Engagement with the Fairer Renfrewshire Panel supported interpretation of findings and identification of priorities linked to poverty, mental wellbeing, access to services and inequality. The Health and Wellbeing Survey Community Response Action Plan was presented to the Community Planning Partnership in March 2026, setting out shared priorities, agreed actions, leadership and reporting arrangements. Priorities for 2026/27 include progressing delivery of short‑term actions set out in the Community Response Action Plan and embedding lived and living experience within ongoing Community Planning Partnership activity and the development of the new Community Plan. 6.2 Attainment In Renfrewshire, there is a relentless focus on closing the poverty related attainment gap while raising attainment for all. As a result, there has been an increase in attainment across almost all curricular areas and stages. Attainment is now in line with or ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Renfrewshire is ahead of national figures across all stages and curricular areas in 2023-24. Attainment gaps in literacy are below pre-pandemic levels for the first time and the gap in literacy
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 66 PUBLIC has also reduced. Attainment has improved significantly for pupils living in SIMD 20% most deprived areas and gaps are reduced since 2020-21. There has also been an increase in literacy for care-experienced pupils, rising by 11 percentage points, and for pupils with additional support needs. Attainment at National 5 and Higher have improved since 2024 and positive school leavers destinations are at the highest figure achieved in Renfrewshire, with more than 97% of school leavers entering positive destinations. Schools continue to utilise Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) to support the needs of children and young people and reduce the impact of poverty on learning. Tracking systems clearly evidence impact and data is used very effectively to target support and demonstrate progress. PEF funding has a strong focus on literacy in the schools visited this session, including the purchase of whole-school resources, resulting in clear progression and improvement in reading and writing and the development of more inclusive learning environments. Interventions are targeted at children impacted by poverty and are supported by clear plans with defined outcomes, alongside strong approaches to evaluation, including intervention reports completed by staff delivering support. A range of universal, bespoke and targeted professional learning in literacy and numeracy has been delivered and this is having a positive impact on staff working in our schools to close the poverty related attainment gap. There are 17 schools participating in the successful Target Schools Programme which aims to close the poverty related attainment through bespoke support in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Three schools in the most deprived areas of Renfrewshire are ahead of the national quintile 1 average for 2024-25 across all curricular areas. The Talk for Writing programme was extended to include additional primary and early years settings this session. One early years and one primary setting have been identified as ‘model schools’ and visits have taken place to share effective practice in the literacy approach. Very good progress is being made towards the target to achieve 100% positive post school destinations by 2028. The Pathfinders employability programme, established in August 2024 and now delivered by Invest in Renfrewshire, has expanded to two weekly groups to support school leavers who have not yet sustained a positive destination. Since its launch, 48 young people have taken part, and an additional programme has been developed to support Christmas leavers. Six school leavers have been successfully recruited into Soft FM positions within the authority, and the programme’s strong uptake is expected to support continued delivery in future years.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 67 PUBLIC Creative Paisley is providing all S3 pupils across the 13 secondary schools with access to the region’s cultural, creative and visitor economy sectors along with related educational and career pathways. The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) programme has been recently showcased as an example of effective practice. The case study can be accessed here. The case study highlights the positive impact of the MVP programme on young male mentors, the younger pupils they worked with, and the wider school ethos. So far this session, The Exchange Counselling Service have supported 772 children and young people across primary and secondary sectors with many reporting positive outcomes. The data collated from referral themes and needs that emerge nationally are used to inform both curricular and professional learning needs across education establishments. Fairer Renfrewshire Cost of the School Day (COSD) funding is directly allocated to schools to alleviate financial barriers to participating in school life. A recent evaluation showed that the cost- of-living crisis has resulted in schools increasingly spending the funding on basics such as uniforms, PE kits and food. The funding has raised awareness within schools of the impact of financial pressures on families, with schools being able to respond flexibly to the unique needs of their pupils and their families. COSD has been instrumental in reducing the barriers to participation in school activities with associated costs and has helped to minimise the risk of any child/young person being unintentionally discriminated against due to financial circumstances.Schools have been better able to support learners from low-income families, with 60% of schools reporting that educational attainment has been positively impacted. The Career Ready coaching programme supported 23 young people across 4 secondary schools during session 2025/26. Thirteen percent of participants are care-experienced young people. In addition, 40% of mentees will be paired with a Career Ready coach from Renfrewshire Council, contributing to workforce planning across the authority. This programme aims to work with employers and education to help young people get a kickstart towards their career ambitions. The two-year programme includes a series of skill masterclasses and meeting mentors who share their skills and knowledge to support young people towards their career future. Good progress is also being made towards widening access and participation to further and higher education. Nine out of 11 Renfrewshire secondary schools are confirmed to participate the in Top Up programme in association with Glasgow University. This is a preparation course for higher education for pupils who are currently applying for, or are considering applying for, Higher Education courses in university or college and are from backgrounds of socioeconomic disadvantage and underrepresented groups.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 68 PUBLIC Community Benefits programmes continue to provide valuable industry experiences for pupils across all 13 secondary schools, including site visits, work placements, and industry-awareness activities. On average, 12 opportunities are offered to each school every month. The work placement model is being refreshed to ensure all learners—including the most vulnerable—have access to relevant work based learning opportunities. Young Leaders of Learning has been recognised in Renfrewshire as an area of good practice in relation to quality improvement. The purpose of the programme is to ensure children and young people are actively involved in on-going self-evaluation activities leading to improvement. 40 primaries and 9 secondaries are participating this session, ensuring that the voice and rights of children and young people are being included in school planning and evaluation. 6.3 Whole Family Wellbeing Nationally, the Whole Family Wellbeing approach is an important element in relation to Children’s Services Planning which focusses on a whole systems approach across public and third sector partners to: promote wellbeing; shift resources to early intervention and, where possible, prevention; and to make best use of local assets, workforce and budgets across partners, with support to families at the core of this. This approach ensures that families can access the right support, at the right time, reducing the need for crisis intervention. The Renfrewshire Family Wellbeing Service launched in January 2024 providing a place-based, early intervention model that provides a wide range of supports to meet family needs, including individual and whole family support. The Fund will continue until 31/03/2027 to allow Children’s Services Partnerships the opportunity to plan for sustainability and further embed the work of transformed children’s services. Family Wellbeing Team key developments and activities for 2025-26 • Post pilot launch of our Fast Online and Referral Tracking system (FORT) across Community Teams and partner 3rd sector organisations • Expanding our Non Violent Resistance (NVR) parent and carer group offer, to include evening and online groups. NVR supported 229 parents and carers during this period • Delivery of Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC) peer led parenting programmes ‘Being a Parent’ and ‘Being a Parent - Autism’, through partnership with 3rd sector organisations. • Seasons for Growth groups, to support children and young people aged 6-18 affected by loss, grief and change and the development of Seasons for Growth adult groups
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 69 PUBLIC • Increased membership of our Additional Support Needs (ASN) development group, with representation from families with lived experience, Children’s Services, CAMHS and 3rd sector organisations. This group is influencing developments for families with children and young people with ASN • Delivery of Let’s Introduce Anxiety Management (LIAM) supporting children and young people aged 8-18, experiencing mild to moderate anxiety. Development of partnership with third sector organisations The Renfrewshire Family Wellbeing Service has worked collaboratively with third sector organisations since 2024, through a funded grants process to extend its reach, build capacity in the system and increase the offer of support available to families. During 2025-26, 9 projects were funded. Home Start Supporting families through intensive family support, peer family befriending and ASN/ Neurodivergent family group Active Communities and Klas Care Delivery of EPEC peer led parenting programme, including ‘Being a Parent’ and ‘Being a Parent - Autism’ and training for local Parent Group Leader to deliver both programmes. Brick Lane Music experiences for children and young people with ASN, and their families, delivered in partnership with schools and 3rd sector organisations and respite music activities at weekends. Youth Interventions Supporting young people aged 11-15 who are neurodivergent or displaying risk taking behaviours, and their families. Support is provided through mentoring, counselling and family interventions. Pachedu Working in partnership with minority ethnic communities to support families with children and young people who are neurodivergent, pre or post diagnosis. Early Years Scotland Providing early years support through Baby Massage, Baby Yoga and Stay, Play and Learn sessions for families across Paisley and Linwood. Renfrewshire respite out of school care for Providing respite care and support for families with neurodivergent children and young people though play sessions during school holidays and weekends.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 70 PUBLIC neurodivergent families (RrOSCN) Impact Arts Delivering therapeutic art sessions with children, young people and their families. Klas Care Nurture Working in partnership with schools to provide nurture support for identified children and young people. Planning for the future Increase the voice of families in service development Families’ views and experiences have been at the centre of developments to Whole Family Wellbeing. This has resulted in increased access to group programmes, through evening and online delivery, and 3rd sector organisations funding focused on projects delivering activities for families with children with ASN during school holidays and weekends. Moving forward we will look to build on our engagement with families to ensure that their voices are central to future service design and development. We will do this by Hosting local events for families to raise awareness of the support available from the Family Wellbeing Team and partner 3rd sector organisations will provide the opportunity to hear directly from families about their experiences of accessing supports or gaps in local service provision. Through our ASN Development Group, we will use the expertise of our families with lived experience to drive developments and our offer for families with children with ASN. Availability and access The FORT system has been central to removing barriers and enabling families to access help where and when they need it, from our Communities Teams and partner 3rd sector organisations. The Schools Teams will be moving to FORT over the summer; this will enable a streamlined pathway for families and partners to request support through a single point of referral and prevent families from having to tell their story multiple times to access the right support, from the right service. Whole system approach As we move forward, our focus is to ensure the work of Whole Family Wellbeing is aligned with key workstreams across the local authority including Connected Communities and Fairer Renfrewshire
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 71 PUBLIC Programme to avoid duplication and maximise impact to collectively improve outcomes for children, young people and families across Renfrewshire. Reducing Developmental Concerns The Early Language Project is a multi-agency improvement programme focused on strengthening early language and communication support for young children across Renfrewshire. It brings together health, education and community partners to improve early identification of speech, language and communication needs, increase the consistency and quality of support within early learning and childcare settings, and strengthen advice and support for parents and carers. Activity includes joint working between health visiting, speech and language therapy and ELC services, improved information sharing linked to the 27–30 month review, the use of link speech and language therapists for settings, workforce development and cross-sector training, and the provision of practical resources for families. Delivery is overseen through a Steering Group, using an agreed action plan to monitor progress and a driver diagram to guide quality improvement activity and ensure changes are tested, tracked and embedded over time. 6.4 The Promise Reducing child poverty for our Care Experienced community is a shared priority for Renfrewshire’s Community Planning Partners and Renfrewshire continues to demonstrate strong leadership in delivering The Promise. Oversight is provided through the Promise Strategic Oversight Group, a multi-agency forum reporting to the Children’s Services Partnership. The group brings together senior leaders from across the Council, NHSGGC, HSCP, Community Planning partners and the third sector, providing strategic direction, shared accountability and alignment across services. Progress is monitored through a Promise Mapping Tool and a Care Experienced Data Dashboard, tracking outcomes including wellbeing, attendance, attainment, housing stability and access to employment. These tools help to provide more targeted support at key transition points such as changing school, leaving care and entering adulthood. The Promise Manager and Ambassador in Renfrewshire provide support to teams and services within the council to raise awareness about The Promise and assess how they can best support Care Experienced individuals and implement The Promise effectively. The Promise team also engage with the Care Experienced community to ensure their voices are heard and their needs are met in service design and delivery and they can contribute to the development of policies such as the Renfrewshire Language Policy, which promotes the use of
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 72 PUBLIC positive, inclusive language when referring to Care Experienced individuals. In 2026/27 we will progress the review of the language policy in consultation with the Care Experienced community and with partners with a view to producing and promoting an updated policy. The Promise Champs programme, led by the Youth Team, empowers Care Experienced young people to voice their needs and drive change. Activities such as leadership training, summer clubs, and festive events foster a sense of belonging and community among participants. Additionally, the Promise Arts and Culture Programme provides creative opportunities for Care Experienced young people, helping them build social and cultural capital. The Promise Champs have played a pivotal role in shaping services and leading change. Their involvement in youth-led initiatives has included co-designing a six-week summer programme, organising inclusive events such as the WinterFest, and youth-led redesign of four community venues to create welcoming, youth-friendly environments that support wellbeing, learning and connection. A cornerstone of Renfrewshire's approach is the Promise Keeper Network, comprising, by end February 2026, over 407 local champions from various services, including social work, education, and the third sector. These Promise Keepers are empowered to enact changes within their services, share knowledge, and promote positive, non-stigmatising language as outlined in the Renfrewshire Language Policy. Several initiatives support the workforce in delivering The Promise, including the Promise Human Library, which matches Care Experienced young people with professionals in their field of interest, and the development of a Care Experienced Staff Network. This network provides a safe space for staff with Care Experience to share their views, seek peer support, and access learning and development opportunities. Across the past year 5 young people have been supported to access the Promise Human Library, with positive feedback being reported about the experience. Recruitment to the Library will continue in 2026/27 alongside raising awareness of the resource across teams and services. The introduction of guaranteed interviews for Care Experienced individuals who meet the minimum requirements for job roles in the council launched in early 2026, aimed at addressing some of the barriers to employment. A range of briefings and learning materials were made available to hiring managers and those involved in the recruitment process. There will be monitoring of data around the uptake of the scheme. Our achievements in 25/26 are illustrated below.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 73 PUBLIC In 2026/27, we will continue to grow the Promise Keeper Network by recruiting more local champions and increasing visibility and awareness of The Promise across various services. We will also further enhance workforce support by expanding initiatives such as the Promise Human Library and the Care Experienced Staff Network. These initiatives will provide more opportunities for Care Experienced individuals to connect with professionals and access learning and development opportunities. Over the next three years, work will be directed by the Keep The Promise in Renfrewshire Action Plan 2026 – 2029, which provides a clear and practical framework to guide the work of the Promise Team and sets priorities, clarifies roles and outlines how progress will be measured. The plan is ambitious, achievable, and shaped by the voices of children, young people, families and communities . Reducing child poverty for Care Experienced people will remain a core priority and the plan supports stronger alignment between The Promise, Fairer Renfrewshire and Children’s Services planning. Key priorities include amplifying Care Experienced voices in poverty and place-based work and expanding early help and whole-family preventative support. to support dignified lives and improved outcomes. Progress will be reported each year through Renfrewshire’s Promise – Keeping The Promise Report. 57 – Number of Promise Team Engagements with external partners around Renfrewshire’s approach to The Promise 7 - key partner/service plans aligned with The Promise 101 – Number of Promise Human Library staff members 407- The number of promise keepers in Renfrewshire by 31 March 2026 102 – Attendees at the Annual Promise Keeper Conference (Dec 2025) 146 – Number of Promise Team Engagements with internal partners around Renfrewshire’s approach to The Promise
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 74 PUBLIC 6.5 Community Learning and Development nity Learning and Development Community Learning and Development reaches out to children, young people, adults and families, including those who face barriers and experience disadvantage, and takes a preventative and asset-building approach to working with people, families and communities. The Renfrewshire Community Learning and Development Partnership Plan for 2024 - 27 was published last year and sets out our priorities. Community learning and development work in Renfrewshire has many strands and reaches many people. We recognise that our learners and our communities are at the heart of what we do, and as an initial priority of the new Partnership Plan, we will be looking at how we further strengthen local voice and lived experience in developing and shaping future activities and programmes of work. Priority 1 - Provide a programme of high-quality lifelong learning, accessible to all. Priority 2 - Build strong, connected communities where people can participate and influence in their local area. Priority 3 - Deliver targeted opportunities to reduce barriers and tackle inequalities. Priority 4 - Strengthening our CLD Partnership and developing our local workforce. These four priorities are aligned to our existing Community Planning Themes and the Community Plan also includes a specific action to provide support that allows families to live dignified lives and respond to the cost of living crisis. Over 25/26, the CLD Adult and Family Learning team continued to work actively in partnership with a nember of organisations and services. They offer courses for adults including literacy, English language, crafting and mending, equalities, money management, parenting, personal development, life skills, wellbeing, women's history and digital skills. They also offer family learning where parents and children come together to work on literacy, numeracy and communication skills. CLD work with young people includes universal and targeted actions such as community-based youth work to build strength and capacity amongst young people. Contributing to tackling child and youth poverty, the Youth Team has developed a number of targeted and inclusive programmes that reduce costs of participation, increase access to services travel and digital tools and promote wellbeing, engagement, and attainment for vulnerable and care-experienced young people. Young people engaging in the Youth Team activities can access free food, period products and digital
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 75 PUBLIC devices and connectivity as a matter of course. Working with young people gives the service insight into their issues and priorities and ensures the responses are appropriate. This year the activities included: • Free Duke of Edinburgh Award places to targeted groups, including young carers, New Scots and pupils attending ASN schools and well as childrens houses and LGBT SafeSpace. Appropriate kit is also supplied free for schools and groups to help ensure pupils who would not normally be able to afford to participate and purchase kit can complete the award programme with their peers. • The Evolve programme delivered personal and social education to young people at Paisley Grammar School. Sessions focused on developing personal skills, confidence and positive relationships through group work. Practical cooking sessions were delivered to help young people develop essential life skills, support independence and encourage healthy living. • The Foxbar Youth Drop-In opened general access provision for young people, with a focus on delivering a homework club to support educational attainment and engagement. This provision helped reduce barriers associated with poverty, including limited access to study space and digital resources such as WiFi. This Good Vibes Only programme recently incorporated a five-week enterprise skills block delivered by the Social Enterprise Academy. • Supporting the Promise Champion Present Drive, which provided Christmas gifts to 304 care experienced young people organised by the Promise Champions youth group who are care experienced young people who meet weekly to discuss issues that affect care-experienced young people and their views on support and care they have received. • Fund Your Fun in partnership with Children’s services, supporting young people who are Looked After At Home, and enables them access to positive experiences that may otherwise be financially inaccessible. • Love2Week 2026, involving up to 40 young people participating in activities aligned with the themes Love2Lead, Love2Learn and Love2Care included a Mindful Sip Café, a leadership training day at Lapwing Lodge and a Care Day trip to Level X Glasgow for care experienced young people and young carers. • Young people supported by the Youth Team and Throughcare have successfully completed six weeks of Barista training and recently put their new skills into practice by planning and hosting a small coffee morning event. They demonstrated strong teamwork, organisation, and customer service skills while working towards their Dynamic Youth Awards. The group showed growing confidence and communication throughout the process, taking pride in delivering a welcoming and well-run event.
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Local Child Poverty Action Report Renfrewshire 2025/2026 76 PUBLIC Looking forward, the service will again deliver Easter and summer camps targeted to low income families via messaging to those in receipt of School Clothing Grants. They will also continue Youth Voice Development for Care Experienced young people through the Promise Champions. The Bring Unity to Communities group (Evolve New Scots) will be working in partnership with a local organisation to deliver workshops for young people focussed on sustainable fashion. The young people will also design and deliver an anti-rascist workshop. 6.6 Celebrating Renfrewshire In 2025/26, the Celebrating Renfrewshire Fund supported youth projects across Renfrewshire. Launched in 2019, Celebrating Renfrewshire is a fund designed by and for young people, where those aged 12-25 will have a direct say on which projects are funded in their local area. The fund process empowers young people to make decisions that will benefit and enhance their local communities. Over the last year, Celebrating Renfrewshire has supported 65 projects from 41 groups, totalling £149,340 spent on projects for young people across Renfrewshire. Projects include access to support for young people's mental health through regular drop-in sessions., inclusive dance, movement, and music workshops for young people with additional support needs or care experience, training kits and team clothes, and free sports and day trips. One example of a funded project is Erskine Arts, who created a first-time job opportunity for local 16-17-year-olds. This has given young people the chance to get real work experience, build confidence, be part of a creative, fast paced and varied arts charity while earning some money. Also funded was the Visionary Project, which is a youth-led group designed to create safe, inclusive, and engaging spaces for young people from minority backgrounds throughout Renfrewshire. The fund is facilitated by Renfrewshire Council’s Community Partnerships Team who support a steering group of young people. The group represent the voices of young people across Renfrewshire and provide an essential role in shaping the guidance for the fund each year. Organisations bid for funding in each Local Partnership area and young people then use their Young Scot card to vote for what they think is most needed and to make a positive difference to their own, and their friends, lives.
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