20 per cent of Scottish residents living in poverty

The latest poverty numbers from the New Policy Institute Show that about 20 per cent of the Scottish population is living in poverty. The data has been broken down the numbers to provide more detail. While poverty is impacting people of all situations, an increasing number of them are young adults and/or rent their homes in the private sector.

However, not all the news is bad. In fact, the number of Scottish senior citizens as well as pensioners that are in poverty has been cut in half over the last 10 years, and is now at about 11 per cent of this age group. So while there has been some progress made over the last ten years, the fact that 20% of all Scottish residents are still living in this situation shows that much more needs to be done.

Poverty of tenants in private housing

Mostly due to the lack of social housing as well as reduction in benefits, about 30% of households living in poverty rent a home in the private sector. This will continue to present more challenges and possible an increasing number of homeless residents.

People that rent in the private sector are paying 24% of their income for their rent. So is way too high. In fact, families that live in social housing in Scotland pay only about 18 per cent of their income towards housing costs. The difference is major as that doe not allow the tenant to pay for pother needs they may have, such as food or energy bills.

One key challenge is that the tenant in the private housing sector is more susceptible to being evicted from a private home. They tend to have less resources for dealing with any rent arrears, so if they are late on a payment or two that will truly struggle.

Sottish poverty rates by group

The scales vary greatly by age group and education. While the number of older people has decreased to 11% as noted above, there are still about 22% of children in poverty. The rate for individuals age 16-10 is about 25%, and in fact 15% of them do not even have jobs. So it will be difficult for this age group to get the work experience they need to end the cycle of poverty.

Considering the challenging economy, about 15 % of working families are struggling even though they are employed. The income they are bringing in does not allow them to cover all of their household expenses, so they in fact are considered to be in poverty too. The data from New Policy Institute Show shows that even having a job is not enough today.

There are some recommendations being made by the study. The biggest is to increase the living wage rates. Right behind that is to ensure there is more affordable housing across Scotland. Not only are those two critical to tackling poverty, but they will also help reduce homelessness.

As far as young people, NPI recommends more job training. This needs to be done in partnership with local schools. If they have the resources they need, then students will be better prepared for the challenges they may face in the future. They can also gain the critical skills, such as IT, that people need to maximise their income.