4. Cabinet paper - CPEIF - 040226
North Ayrshire Council · 17 February 2026
Back to Cabinet — 17 February 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 17 February 2026 Cabinet (Education) Title: Child Poverty & Early Intervention Fund Purpose: To provide an update on the impact delivered through the Child Poverty & Early Intervention Fund. Recommendation: That Cabinet notes the content of the report, including: i) the impact delivered through the CPEIF to date, and ii) provisional proposals that any future CPEIF investment is aligned with the emerging Children and Families Plan. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 A North Ayrshire that is fair for all requires every child to have the same opportunities in life. Over recent years, we have invested significant focus in programmes that support this ambition. There are encouraging early signs that this focus is supporting improvement. The most recent statistics published by the End Child Poverty Coalition showed that child poverty within North Ayrshire decreased from 29.2% in 2022-23 to 24.3% in 2023-24. 1.2 The North Ayrshire Child Poverty and Early Intervention Fund (CPEIF) is a strategic investment by North Ayrshire Council, established as part of our 2023–24 budget, to support the North Ayrshire Child Poverty Action Plan 2023–2026. It is a targeted, flexible £1.2m pot to reduce drivers of poverty and mitigate immediate cost-of-living pressures. 1.3 In total, £1.013 million of the fund has now been spent or committed, with proposals for a further £0.070m under active consideration. Existing interventions are not only delivering immediate support to families, but also helping to prototype new models of working – such as co-design of policies and integrated delivery teams – that could inform mainstream services in the future. 1.4 We are now working towards developing a joint plan and report incorporating Child Poverty, Children’s Services and Children’s Rights for the period 2026-2029. This will streamline processes, strengthen accountability, and enable more effective targeting of resources to improve outcomes for children, young people, and families. 2. Background Strategic Context
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2.1. A North Ayrshire that is fair for all requires every child to have the same opportunities in life. Over recent years, we have invested significant focus in programmes that support this ambition. Amongst others, that includes: • Being one of three local authorities involved in the Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland (CHES). Using the ‘Marmot principles’ the ultimate goal of this programme is to work with partners to enable people to live longer, healthier lives by addressing the root causes of health inequalities and prevent illness before it starts. • Participation in the Scottish Government’s Fairer Futures Partnership (FFP), which has provided us with funding to establish a dedicated Child Poverty Strategy Team providing oversight and direction to activity across Council services. • Being invited to be one of seven ‘early adopters’ of the Scottish Government’s Whole Family Support programme, which aims to provide local authorities with the conditions required to maximise holistic, wraparound support to vulnerable families. 2.2 These programmes build upon a pre-existing package of Council-wide activity as outlined in our Child Poverty Action Plan 2023-26. Many of the initiatives within that action plan were shaped around contributions captured through a series of mini- enquiries with community representatives. 2.3 There are encouraging early signs that this focus is supporting improvement. The most recent statistics published by the End Child Poverty Coalition showed that child poverty within North Ayrshire decreased from 29.2% in 2022-23 to 24.3% in 2023-24. This reduction of 4.9 percentage points was the largest in Scotland over this time period. However, those figures also mean that over 7,000 of our children may still be struggling to access everyday essentials such as food, clothing and transport. It is also important to note that specific priority areas within North Ayrshire have considerably higher levels of child poverty; for example, 40% in Stevenston Hayocks and 47% in Irvine Fullarton. CPEIF Overview 2.4 The North Ayrshire Child Poverty and Early Intervention Fund (CPEIF) is a strategic investment by North Ayrshire Council, established as part of our 2023–24 budget, to support the North Ayrshire Child Poverty Action Plan 2023–2026. It is a targeted, flexible £1.2m pot to reduce drivers of poverty and mitigate immediate cost-of-living pressures. 2.5 Over successive funding rounds from 2023 to 2025, the emphasis of CPEIF investments has evolved from quick-response measures (e.g. emergency financial relief and access enablers) toward coordinated, community-led programmes delivered with partners. Existing interventions are not only delivering immediate support to families, but also helping to prototype new models of working – such as co-design of policies and integrated delivery teams – that could inform mainstream services in the future. 2.6 The fund is currently governed through a multi-agency approach (via the Community Planning Partnership and the associated Senior Officers Group), ensuring alignment with broader strategies like the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan, CHES and the FFP, as well as the nationally recognised drivers of poverty. Investment and Impact
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2.7 In total, £1.013 million of the fund has now been spent or committed, with proposals for a further £0.070m under active consideration. That means that £117k is left which is neither spent nor potentially earmarked. A full breakdown of that position is presented in Annex A. 2.8 Examples of particular use and impact include: • £227,000 invested in a unique 12-month whole family support pilot, co-designed with local community and voluntary partners (including 1st Alliance Community Bank, Beith Community Development Trust, CHAP, and The Ayrshire Community Trust (TACT)). The goal of this collaborative project is to provide a whole system approach to early intervention, boosting financial resilience and making it easier for households to access tailored support. Service Level Agreements have all been signed, and the project is now in the recruitment phase, with a monitoring and evaluation framework in place to record impacts delivered. • An allocation of £50,000 to furthering our No Wrong Door initiative to ensure residents seeking cost-of-living information are directed to the correct support regardless of which council department or partner organization they initially contact. • £50,000 was allocated to support travel for training and employment, including a range of pilot initiatives to help parents who are engaging with services to access travel solutions to support their employability journey. As part of this, there is currently capacity to provide bus travel for approximately 150 parents for up to six months each, enabling attendance at employment-focused activities including training for work, the Skills for Life Programme, and to support access to new employment opportunities. This investment directly reduces transport-related financial pressure for low‑income families and strengthens pathways into sustained employment. • The full £50,000 committed to enhancing Digital Inclusion by providing computer equipment for our communities has been spent. This included working with a range of partners to identify recipients who would benefit from enhanced digital inclusion to support employability. Partners included The Lennox Partnership (We Work for Families), TACT, Children's First and The Network Brokerage. Digital devices were allocated by the partners, ensuring that they were shared with those most in need. MiFi contracts were also passed on to enable online access where that was a barrier. Each partner also created bespoke training and support tailored to meet participants needs and maximise the potential of the new resources. • £20,000 was initially allocated in 2024/25 to explore models for more sustainable and affordable childcare provision across the region. This has subsequently been extended with a further £107,000 into 2025/26 to support capacity building for out of school childcare, including retention of a fixed-term post to provide essential resource capacity. Key outputs delivered to date include: o Increased provision of registered childminders, in partnership with the Scottish Childminding Association, through a funded project involving 20 prospective childminders. From that cohort, eight are registered or awaiting Care Inspectorate registration, with the remainder at varying stages of the process o Supporting the creation of 24 out of school childcare places in Fairlie, working with the voluntary management group, meeting a key gap in
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provision. These places are also available outwith term time following keyholding arrangements being agreed with the local school o Supporing the creation of 30 out of school childcare places in the Garnock Valley, provided by Beith Trust, following a decision to close provision by a previous provider. The ‘Beith Hive’ initiative has expanded to include pick- ups from local schools, using an electric vehicle procured through a CIF award o Supporting the creation of 20 breakfast club places at Whitehirst Park PS in Kilwinning. Work is ongoing to expand provision in this locality further, following delays with an interested provider who had reached Care Inspectorate registration stage o Preparation and delivery of a calendar of training to the sector o Preparation of a new toolkit, in conjunction with the Fairlie project o Working with The Ayrshire Community Trust, a review of the needs of the sector has been completed, with the work progressing to the next phase to identify opportunities for a more strategic approach to provision • £100,000 provided to continue support to 16 local food larders / community shops as we support groups to transition to self-sustaining models where possible. • £53,000 allocated for a specialist housing adviser within CHAP. This role focuses on providing expert advice to families on housing issues, homelessness prevention, and related social security support. As of December 2025, 60 individuals had been referred to the service. 25% of those referred fell within at least one child poverty priority family group, and several families are represented across multiple priority groups. Over a third of cases have since been closed following successful resolution, and those ongoing are receiving continuing support. The work is also generating key learning, evidencing increased complexity of cases requiring multi- agency work, higher demand for representation at Summary Court and gaps in early intervention for at-risk tenants. • £65,000 towards a new North Ayrshire Family Enterprise Fund, intended to nurture entrepreneurial skills and pathways to sustainable self-employment. Applications for this 12-week programme, which will include childcare provision as well as support to apply for a small business grant, are currently open, with Ayrshire College delivering the course from April. • £112,000 supporting tests of change within Saltcoats North East and Kilbirnie South & Longbar as part of the Fairer Futures Partnership. This pilot tests a shift from signposting to consistent, place-based, and relational wraparound support. New posts will welcome named workers to provide hands‑on and coordinated support across agencies. Families will develop sustained, trusting relationships, and experience improved access to services and reduced stress. Evaluative indicators will include number of warm handovers and supported applications, service engagement and benefits uptake, appointment attendance, and family feedback gauging trust, reduced isolation, and improved confidence to navigate systems independently. • £10,000 has been used to secure on-year membership of the Smart Data Foundry (part of the Edinburgh Futures Institute). This tool uses financial data to provide insights which can reduce poverty and inequality, with indicators including metrics on spending behaviour and financial resilience. Licenses have been allocated across
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multiple directorates and a core staff working group assembled to share use cases. The working group have worked closely with the SDF team to design a new metric of high benefits dependency Next steps 2.9 As highlighted at the Cabinet meeting of January 27th, we are working towards developing a joint plan and report incorporating Child Poverty, Children’s Services and Children’s Rights for the period 2026-2029. This will streamline processes, strengthen accountability, and enable more effective targeting of resources to improve outcomes for children, young people, and families. That joint plan will be presented to Cabinet later this year for approval. 2.10 Moving forward – and conditional upon appropriate Cabinet review and approval - it is proposed that any future CPEIF investment would be aligned with the Children and Families Plan and its associated cross‑agency evaluation framework, ensuring that CPEIF‑funded activity contributes coherently to whole‑family support, collaborative practice, and meaningful wider systems change. 3. Proposals 3.1That Cabinet notes the content of the report, including: i) the impact delivered through the CPEIF to date, and ii) provisional proposals that any future CPEIF investment is aligned with the emerging Children and Families Plan. 4. Implications/Socio-economic Duty Financial 4.1 There are no financial implications arising directly from this report. Human Resources 4.2 There are no human resource implications arising directly from this report. Legal 4.3 Our statutory obligations related to this area are covered under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. Equality/Socio-economic 4.4 The activity referenced within the report actively seeks to improve equality and socio- economic outcomes for North Ayrshire residents. Climate Change and Carbon 4.5 There are no climate change or carbon implications arising from this report. Key Priorities
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4.6 Interventions supported through the CPEIF contribute to our four Council Plan priorities, with a particular focus on transitioning to a Wellbeing economy. Community Wealth Building 4.7 A range of activity supported through the CPEIF help to build capacity within the third sector and across communities. Islands Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) 4.8 There are no Islands Communities Impact Assessment implications arising from this report. United Nations Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 4.9 Our focus on child poverty, including through the Child Poverty Action Plan, demonstrates our commitment to Children’s Rights. Consumer Duty 4.10 There are no Consumer Duty implications arising from this report. 5. Consultation 5.1 N/A Sam Anson / David Hammond Executive Director (Education) / Executive Director (Communities & Housing) For further information please contact Sam Anson, Executive Director (Education), on samanson@north-ayrshire.gov.uk. Background Papers 0
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Annex A: Breakdown of CPEIF investments Initiative Description Value Initial Phase School meal debt Reduction of outstanding ParentPay school meal debt. 61,322 Provision of ICT Devices Distribution of ICT devices to vulnerable families. 50,000 Sustainable Childcare Initial support to regarding capacity building for out of school care. 20,000 Employability Travel Plans Support for travel passes for those travelling to work as part of an employability programme. 50,000 Active Schools Provide access to sport and physical activity holidays programmes to those living in poverty. 20,000 No Wrong Door Training and promotional materials associated with NWD initiative. 50,000 Swim and Skate Free swim and skate sessions during school holidays. 20,000 Total 271,322 2025/26 Programme Essential Skills Programme Match funding from Shared Prosperity Fund- £130k. 50,000 Swim and Skate (2025/26) Free swim and skate sessions during school holidays. 18,000 Childcare Theme Continuation of support in relation to Council hosted post and other activity to support capacity building for out of school childcare. 107,000 Whole Family Support Cross-partner team aligned to strategic support, advocacy, intensive employability & wellbeing support, and financial inclusion. Developed in collaboration with the Third Sector COG. 227,000 CHAP Specialist Housing Adviser. 52,594
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Family Enterprise Fund Nurturing entrepreneurial skills and pathways to sustainable self-employment. 64,890 FFP Tests of change Supporting tests of change within Saltcoats North East and Kilbirnie South & Longbar through the FFP. 112,070 Smart Data Foundry Access to data to support poverty and inequality objectives. 10,000 Fairer Food Network Continued support to 16 Larders/Community Shops 100,000 Total 741,554 Net Position Total committed 1,012,876 Live proposals 70,000 Total committed + proposals 1,082,876