The project, led by Midlothian Sure Start in partnership with Midlothian Council, is one of nine successful applicants to the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund - which was set up to explore promising approaches or redesign services to maximise their impact on child poverty.

A Cash First Fund, which aims to reduce the need for emergency food parcels and food banks, will also fund eight partnerships to provide help to low income families. Six of these will provide new sources of cash-first support.

Social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “These two funds exemplify the innovative approach the Scottish Government is taking to tackling poverty and delivering for the people of Scotland.

“The Midlothian partnership will give local families the opportunity to get involved in and influence local services. It will aim to identify improvements which will ensure help on offer is joined-up and people are supported in a dignified way to reduce stigma.

“Other projects will help to accelerate progress in tackling poverty, including by making it easier for people to access cash in a crisis and by connecting people with advice to prevent future hardship.

“We are investing £3 billion this financial year to tackle poverty and protect people from the cost of living crisis. We are taking all the action we can to support people within our limited powers and fixed budget.”

Cash First Fund: successful proposals

Lead partners

• Aberdeen Voluntary Action (TSI)
• Aberdeenshire Council
• Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership
• Fife Council
• Glasgow Centre for Population Health
• North Lanarkshire Council
• Voluntary Action Orkney (TSI)
• West Dunbartonshire Council

Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund: successful proposals

Area - Project

• Aberdeen City - Data driven identification of households experiencing child poverty to inform and direct intervention and support.
• Argyll and Bute - Evaluating the usefulness of third-party datasets for identifying communities in need of financial support.
• Edinburgh - Income Maximisation Outreach
• Inverclyde - Parent Centred Early and Intensive Intervention – supporting parents with children and babies under 5 years
• Midlothian - Midlothian Peer Research – A Case for Change through a Place Based Approach Building Skills and Influencing
• Moray - Improved identification of families affected by disability and delivery of support to maximise income
• North Ayrshire - North Ayrshire Single Shared Assessment (NASSA)
• Perth & Kinross - Beyond Emergency Support to Sustainable Livelihoods – Capacity Building Programme for Local Communities
• South Lanarkshire - Paths out of Poverty’ - empowering parent/carers of disabled children through innovative, holistic, strengths-based approach.