#KeepTheLifeline and #DoubleScotChildPayment campaigns
Social workers across Scotland are being asked to support two separate campaigns urging politicians to make changes to social security.
#KeepTheLifeline Campaign - UK
The UK Government is set to go ahead with its plan to cut Universal Credit by £20 per week this Autumn.
This will have a significant negative impact on the poorest and most vulnerable people, families and communities across the UK. Many people who are supported by social work services receive Universal Credit - a £20 a week cut from their allowance will make it more difficult to get on in life, or even make ends meet.
Over 100 civil society organisations – including BASW UK – have written to the Prime Minister, calling for the Government to abandon the proposed cut, which is worth over £1000 a year.
Get involved
We know that many of our members are strongly against the proposal.
It's vital that your voice is heard in this debate - you can use BASW’s template letters to lobby your local MP and key figures in Government:
Find out more about how you can get involved, here.
#DoubleScotChildPayment - Scotland
A coalition of over 100 anti-poverty organisations - including SASW - have written to the First Minister urging her to “do the right thing” by using the upcoming Programme for Government to commit to doubling the Scottish Child Payment in this year’s budget, the £10 per week per child benefit for low income families.
The letter – coordinated by members of the End Child Poverty coalition in Scotland – states that doubling the payment now would “signal that ending child poverty will be a defining priority for this Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament.” It has been sent after the Scottish Government – despite all of Scotland’s five main political parties committing to the move at May’s Holyrood elections – have so far failed to set a timescale for the doubling of the payment, stating only that it will take place by the end of the parliamentary term in 2026. The campaigners say the increase is needed now to help families recover from the pandemic and to meet the government’s own statutory 2023/24 interim child poverty targets.
Get involved - ask your MSP to support doubling the Scottish Child Payment now
Doubling the Scottish Child Payment this year would provide a lifeline to families who are struggling to stay afloat. Even before the pandemic, 1 in 4 children are growing up in the grip of poverty, and child poverty rates are rising in every Scottish local authority. We need action now to right this wrong, that's why the Scottish Government must commit - in the upcoming Programme for Government - to use the next budget to doubling the payment.
Amid this rising tide of poverty, every level of government has a responsibility to act, and the Scottish Government have a moral responsibility to use all of the powers at its disposal to loosen the grip of poverty on people’s lives.
The Poverty Alliance have created an email template for you to use, but feel free to adapt it how you would like.