Reducing child poverty is a priority for the Council and its partners. A core priority within the Council’s Programme is to tackle child poverty and promote access to welfare support.

Reducing poverty is also a core theme within Highland’s Integrated Children’s Service Plan which sits within a context of the Community Planning Partnership and delivering against the Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The priorities for addressing child poverty in Highland are set out the Integrated Children’s Services Plan and reported in the Highland Local Child Poverty Action Report.

Communities and Place Committee Chair, Councillor Graham MacKenzie, said: “There is a strong commitment in Highland to address poverty and inequality. The vision for the Community Planning Partnership through its Highland Outcome Improvement Plan is ‘To work together to reduce inequality within Highland communities’ and requires the continuation of a holistic whole system approach to poverty.

“The impact of poverty varies across the demography/geography of Highland, including rural and urban poverty that impacts our families and communities, and we must continue to strive to address poverty at all social levels particularly during this extremely challenging time for members of our society.”

The Highland Local Child Poverty Action Report details progress against the priorities set out in the Integrated Children’s Service Plan which runs from 2023/24 – 2025/26. Poverty is a standalone theme, but this also crosscuts across the other themes of the plan, including child protection, health and wellbeing, drugs and alcohol and corporate parenting. It also recognises that child poverty cannot be seen in isolation and that poverty is experienced in many guises.

The full The Highland Local Child Poverty Action Report can be accessed here.