Case studies

The Lone Parents Poverty and Work Initiative is Fife Gingerbread’s response to tackling child poverty in Scotland, focusing on the Fife area. Lone parents are a priority family group who are at greater risk of poverty. The project focuses specifically on employability, upskilling and transitioning lone parents into flexible employment. This may or may not mean that certain benefits stop when the l…

The Boosting Budgets project is a 7-week financial capability group for parents and carers across various schools across Fife with a weekly class covering a different topic every week. It addresses issues from fuel poverty, saving and borrowing, to benefits and rights as well as cooking on a budget with separate sessions dedicated to budgeting, benefit support and cooking. The service can provide …

The Perth and Kinross Anti-poverty Taskforce provides independent active leadership and support for cross-sector collaboration and action to help those most affected by poverty and the cost-of-living crisis. The Taskforce draws upon expertise from across the area and offers meaningful support to those experiencing poverty and most at risk from rising costs. It also provides a co-ordinating focal p…

Tameside’s Poverty Needs Assessment strategy is a cross agency reaction to the post-COVID economic downturn and associated social, educational, and economic poverty. The strategy provides an easily accessible and empirically validated insight into area specific poverty instigators. Additionally, the strategy provides information on key actions taken by Tameside to help minimise the effects of a di…

Fa'side Community Kitchen (FCK) is a volunteer led COVID-19 legacy charity. The community-based group began offering hot meals and emergency food provision to residents of Fa’side in East Lothian during the first COVID lockdown. Today FCK has a local base within Fa’side bowling club two days a week. Hot and nutritious meals and social interaction are provided at no cost to a diverse community popu…

The ‘1 in 5’ project was set up in response to the 20% child poverty rate in Edinburgh and aimed to improve understanding of the causes and impact of child poverty. The project provided insight into changes which schools could implement to support children from low-income families, especially in terms of reducing school-related costs. Engaging schools, pupils, staff and parents, the ‘1 in 5’ proje…

The Maximise Angus! Project is a collaborative effort between Education and Lifelong Learning in Angus, managed by the Angus Council Welfare Rights Team. Initiated in July 2022 and predicted to run for two years, the project employs a holistic approach to develop and normalise advice to families and contribute towards reducing child poverty in the Angus area. Two Financial Wellbeing Practitioners …

The Financial Insecurity Fund is a local fund which provides assistance to those on low incomes in the Perth and Kinross area. If a household is struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis and has no recourse to public funds, they can apply for financial assistance through the fund to pay back debts. The debts, for which the fund provides assistance include for example gas, electricity, broadband …

The Braes High School (Falkirk) Maximising Income for Families project works in partnership with the Community Advice Service (Falkirk Council), Senior Benefits Advisor and a dedicated IMO. The project aims to provide financial advice to the families of pupils, it involves advising parents on which unclaimed benefits they may be entitled to. This is particularly aimed at the families of students w…

The Children’s Scorecard was developed following research commissioned by Perth and Kinross Council on the lived experience of Priority Families experiencing poverty. The research, which, was conducted by the Poverty Alliance and the Scottish Poverty & Inequality Research Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University gathered information on how poverty impacted the lives of Priority Families and captured th…