Item 10 - Local Child Poverty Annual Report 2024-25

West Dunbartonshire Council · 12 November 2025
Back to Infrastructure, Regeneration & Economic Development Committee — 12 November 2025 and its agenda

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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL
Report by Chief Officer – Roads and Neighbourhood
Infrastructure, Regeneration and Economic Development Committee
12 November 2025
Subject:  Local Child Poverty Annual Report 2024/25
1. Purpose
1.1 This report provides an update on the local child poverty report with the full
document attached as an appendix.
2. Recommendations
2.1 It is recommended Committee:
 Notes and supports the actions set within the child poverty report;
and
 Notes partners are asked to commit support, and representation
where appropriate to the Family Prosperity Network and its aims.
3. Background
3.1 The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requires the Scottish Government to
meet four income-based child poverty targets by 2030.
3.2 Local Authorities, in partnership with NHS Health Boards, have a duty in
this legislation to produce a local child poverty annual report that outlines
what they are doing to contribute to the national targets.
3.3 We know that people experience poverty when they are unable to achieve the
standard of living that most others expect and take for granted. In Scotland, the
evidence shows that child poverty is driven by structural and institutional factors,
including:
 (limited) Income from benefits.
 (limited) Income from employment.
 (disparity between income and) Costs of living, including housing, food
and fuel costs, the poverty premium (the additional costs low-income
households incur for essential goods and services due to limited choices
and less favourable terms), the costs of the school day, and the extra,
unavoidable costs of disability.
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3.4 The Scottish Government has set itself the target of reducing the proportion of
children in relative poverty to 10% by 2030. The current level is 24.5%. The
guidance on this states that almost 90% of all children in poverty in Scotland live
within six priority family types:
 Lone parent families (38%)
 Disabled (29%)
 3+ Children (32%)
 Minority Ethnic (38%)
 Youngest Child less than 1 year old (34%)
 Mothers aged less than 25 years (55%)
3.5 In West Dunbartonshire, we also recognise additional locally targeted groups who
are more likely to experience poverty and disadvantage, including care
experienced young people, kinship carers and families where children have
additional support needs. These are families with:
 Low or inadequate incomes.
 Poor quality or insecure employment.
 Affected by welfare reform.
 Facing challenges meeting the high and rising cost of necessities.
3.6 Therefore, the priority groups in West Dunbartonshire are:
 Lone parent families.
 Families with a disabled adult or child.
 Families with three or more children.
 Minority ethnic families.
 Families with a child under one year old.
 Mothers aged under 25 years.
 Care-experienced families and young people.
 Kinship care families.
 Families with children who have additional support needs.
3.7 Efforts to reduce child poverty, in effect, should focus on these target groups and
these efforts should focus on the drivers of poverty reduction. The drivers of
poverty reduction include:
 maximising income from employment and benefits and;
 reducing the cost of living.

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3.8 The drivers of poverty reduction and inputs are illustrated in Diagram 1.
Drivers of Poverty Reduction
Income from Social Security and BenefitsCosts of LivingIncome from Employment
Hours worked per
household
Hourly Pay DebtsOther costs
of living
Housing
Costs
Reach of
Benefit
Levels of benefit
Skills and
Qualifications
Labour market
Availability of affordable and
accessible transport.
Childcare.
Barriers to access
Enablers (access to
affordable credit,
internet access,
savings, assets, debt
management)
Take upEligibility criteria
Understanding the
system
4. Main Issues
4.1 Data relating to the scale of child poverty is notoriously difficult to reconcile
to the Scottish Government’s targets. However, the figures provided in
‘Children in low-income families: Local statistics 2014 to 2024’ are most
closely aligned with the Scottish Government’s 2030 target for families
living in relative poverty, which is set at 10%.
4.2 These figures state that 3,894 children were living in disadvantaged
households in West Dunbartonshire in 2024. This is from a population of
approximately 15,450 (in the 0-15 years age group) and represents 25.2%
of the population.
4.3 The main issue is, irrespective of the source of data, child poverty in West
Dunbartonshire is higher than the average figure for Scotland. It is also
higher than the regional (NHS GG&C area) figure and higher than our
neighbours, with the exception only of Glasgow. All of which suggests the
continued need for focused attention on the issue.
4.4 The local child poverty report highlights actions that have been taken to
address child poverty in West Dunbartonshire. It should be noted that the
list and examples are not exhaustive of the actions to address the impact
(and effects) of poverty. The report simply attempts to highlight action that
contributes to the drivers of poverty reduction.

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5. Resource Implications
5.1 Effective intervention depends on a complex, multi-agency and multi-sector
approach to the delivery of specialist services. In 2024/25, the Family
Prosperity Network (FPN) was established as the lead group for coordinating
child poverty action in West Dunbartonshire. A cross-sector steering group
now meets quarterly to agree shared priorities and co-design responses,
supported by improved data analysis with the Improvement Service. Lived
experience will be embedded in governance to ensure families’ voices shape
decisions, while policy leads are aligning services to strengthen pathways out
of poverty. This framework will track progress against national targets and
continue to strengthen the evidence base for future Local Child Poverty Action
Reports.
5.2 The FPN also leads on preparing the Local Child Poverty Action Report,
ensuring West Dunbartonshire meets its statutory duties while driving long-term
improvement in family wellbeing. By drawing on the knowledge and expertise of
partners, and by investigating and responding to the lived experience of parents
and children, the Network works collectively to mitigate the impact of poverty by
addressing its core drivers: crisis, income and costs.
5.3 This approach will allow us to focus on the drivers of poverty while connecting
with key policy areas to maximise resource input and joint working. Key to this
is the input/contribution by a number of services and organisations that include,
for example:
 Economic Development, Employability and Learning Support (No One
Left Behind, UK Shared Prosperity).
 Benefit and Debt Information and Advice Partnership.
 Health and Social Care Partnership, NHS GG&C.
 West Dunbartonshire Crisis support and Cost of Living Initiatives.
 Children and Families Integrated Services.
 Community Empowerment.
 Housing Solutions Partnership.
 Community Planning Partners and Anchor organisations (Golden
Jubilee Trust)
5.4 We have captured the Family Prosperity Network aims, objectives and
approaches in a ‘one-page plan’ to summarise the complexity of the task and
breadth of input.

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Family Prosperity Network - Objectives and Approach
Community Planning West Dunbartonshire (CPWD) Vision
‘To develop West Dunbartonshire as a place where people choose to live, work, explore, visit and invest.’
Family Prosperity Network Aim: To work in partnership through the Community Planning West Dunbartonshire to reduce the level of child poverty in West Dunbartonshire and bring it closer to the
City Region average.
Objectives: We will do this by improving our understanding and raising awareness of how poverty affects families and children and by addressing the drivers of poverty through partnership working.
Our focus will be placed on actions to:
 Alleviate immediate hardship through cash first approaches.
 Reduce the cost-of-living for families with children with specific emphasis placed on those most in need.
 Maximise income from benefits through the provision of good quality debt and money advice, guidance and representation and focussed campaign.
 Maximise income from employment through the provision of employability and learning services
Our approach:
The Family Prosperity Network will take the lead in co-ordinating efforts that aim to have an impact on addressing the drivers of poverty and reporting progress.
Working alongside the Community Planning Partnership Delivery Improvement Groups and existing partnerships we will use the available knowledge and expertise to investigate the lived experience
and impact of poverty on parents and children’s lives and work together to mitigate that impact by addressing the drivers of poverty (crisis, income, costs).
The Family Prosperity Network will collate information provided by existing partnerships and organisations to illustrate what has been done and what will be done to alleviate child poverty. This will
inform priorities for action; provide content for the Local Child Poverty Annual Report; and form the basis of progress reports for the Community Planning West Dunbartonshire Management Board.
WDCPP: Nurtured, Flourishing, Safe, Empowered, Independent
West Dunbartonshire Council (W4U)/ NHS GG& Clyde lead with Key partnerships input from:
Community
Empowerment
WDCVS
The Food Insecurity
Network
Cash First Project
(Reduce the cost of living
alleviate immediate
hardship and cash first
fund – understand lived
experience)
Children and Families
Integrated Services
Education Services
The Promise
SHINE Programme
(Reducing the cost of
living, for example
reducing the cost of the
school day - alleviate
hardship-)
Health and Social Care
NHS GG&C
Golden Jubilee
Health Improvement Team
Social Care Services
Targeted actions and
Opportunities/understand
lived experience.
Benefit and Debt
Information and Advice
partnership
Working4U
Citizens Advice Bureau
Social Security Scotland
DWP
(maximise income from
benefits)
Economic Development,
Local Employability
Fair Work
Employability
Social Benefit
(maximise income from
work)
West Dunbartonshire
Crisis support and Cost of
Living Initiatives
Welfare Funds
Discretionary and
Passported benefits
(Alleviate hardship
reduce the cost of living)
Housing Solutions
Partnership
WDC Housing Services
RSL
(Alleviate
Hardship/Trigger events)
Success: Specific Actions to address drivers of poverty and progress indicators: Residents understand what’s available and report improvements in their quality of lives because of support

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5.5 The production of the local child poverty report means that we are compliant
with the legislation, Child Poverty (Scotland) Act (2017), that states the
Local Authority in partnership with the GG&C NHS Board must produce an
annual report that highlights what we have done and what we propose to do
to contribute to national targets for the reduction of child poverty.
5.6 The development of the Family Prosperity Network takes that
obligation further by organising and coordinating action at local level to
address the specific challenges we face in West Dunbartonshire.
5.7 While compliance with the legislation is important, we will have a
clearer indication of success when parents tell us that they know where
to go to obtain help, they find the services relevant, and they are
confident that help will assist them to make the changes they need to
address their circumstances. Importantly, they can also report that they
have improved the quality of life for their families.
5.8 To reinforce this the Family Prosperity Network partners have established a
range of indicators to demonstrate progress towards its aims. These indicators
have been adopted and will be reported for 25/26:
Alleviate Immediate Hardship:
 Number of families from priority groups receiving support through the
Scottish Welfare Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments.
 Number of families from priority groups receiving support through the
West Dunbartonshire Household Hardship Fund.
 Number of families from priority groups receiving support from the West
Dunbartonshire ‘cash first’ initiative funded by the Scottish Government.
Income from Employment:
 Number of parents from child poverty priority groups supported
employability initiatives.
 Number of parents from priority groups receiving training.
 Number of parents from priority groups securing a qualification.
 The number of parents from child poverty priority groups into work.
 The number of parents from child poverty priority groups into work in
anchor institutions (including NHS and local authorities), from child
poverty priority groups. 
 Number of Modern Apprentices recruited from child poverty priority
groups.
Income from Benefit:
 Total verified financial gain for clients from households with dependent
children accessing local authority funded money and welfare rights
advice.
 Total number of clients from households with dependent children
accessing local authority funded money and welfare rights advice due to
debt, and total debt owed.

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Cost of living:
 The proportion of parents not making full use of 1140 hours, by priority
group parents. 
 Proportion of priority families in receipt of passported benefits and child
benefits.
 Number of households with dependent children in Council Tax arrears.
 Number of households with dependent children in rent arrears, living in
social housing. 
 Number of patients (pregnant women, families with children) referred to
money and welfare rights advice from the following settings: Midwifery;
Health Visiting; Family Nurses and GP settings (and financial gain for
those referred).  
6. Financial Implications
6.1 The delivery of the Family Prosperity Network aims and objectives is set within
the context of existing budgets and approaches. There are no additional
financial implications.
7. Risk Analysis
7.1 The production of the Local Child Poverty Annual Report addresses the risk
of non-compliance with The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.
8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA)
8.1 An EIA scoping exercise will be undertaken as part of the further development
of the work of the Family Prosperity Network Lead Group.
9. Consultation
9.1 This report provides a summary of the agreed approach being taken by CPWD in
response to the feedback from services, community-based organisations and a
self-evaluation that emerged from the community event held in Clydebank Town
Hall in May 2024.
10. Strategic Assessment
10.1 Progressing work as outlined in this report ensures Community Planning
West Dunbartonshire can deliver on the outcomes set in the Local Outcome
Improvement Plan.
Gail MacFarlane
Chief Officer Roads and Neighbourhoods
27 October 2025

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Person to Contact: Stephen Brooks, Working4U and Fleet Manager,  
Stephen.brooks@west-dunbarton.gov.uk
Appendices: West Dunbartonshire Local Child Poverty Annual Report
24/25.
Wards Affected: All wards