NEW analysis has estimated 100,000 children will be kept out of relative poverty in the next financial year as a result of Scottish Government policies.
Updated modelling by the Scottish Government of the cumulative impact of policies such as the Scottish Child Payment has revealed relative child poverty will be 10% lower than it would have been without the policies.
The First Minister welcomed the analysis after joining a Book Bug session at Drum Brae Library Hub in Edinburgh with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville.
Yousaf highlighted estimates in the report of the impact the UK Government could have on child poverty, if it were to bring in selected welfare changes alongside the Scottish Government's actions.
READ MORE: Scottish Child Payment helping 300k children by end of 2023
The report shows that removing the two-child limit and reinstating the family element in Universal Credit - worth £545 per family in 2017 - could lead to an estimated further 10,000 fewer children in Scotland living in poverty in 2024-25.
"The economic modelling published today estimates that the actions we're taking will mean the relative and absolute child poverty rates will be 10 and 7 percentage points lower than they would have otherwise been. That's 100,000 children kept out of relative poverty and 70,000 kept out of absolute poverty next year," Yousaf said.
"These are the lives of children across Scotland, in every community, being improved by the action we are taking.
The First Minister added that the Scottish Budget continues to reduce poverty "against the backdrop" of the UK Government's two-child limit.
The report also found that if the UK Government was to introduce an Essentials Guarantee - as campaigned for by the Trussell Trust - the policy could lead to 30,000 fewer children experiencing poverty.
Yousaf said: "We know that the UK Government could lift a further 40,000 children out of poverty in Scotland this year if they made key changes to Universal Credit. That includes introducing an Essentials Guarantee and scrapping the two-child limit.
"Every child in Scotland deserves a life free of poverty and I will continue to do everything in my power to make that a reality."
The Trussell Trust is calling on the UK Government to introduce an Essentials Guarantee, so that the basic rate of Universal Credit is always enough to cover life’s essentials and support can never be pulled below that level.
Recent research from the Trust showed that more than half of people receiving Universal Credit in Scotland were unable to afford food in the last month.
Polly Jones, head of Scotland at the Trussell Trust, previously said that the First Minister cannot "stand by and let this continue", urging the Scottish Government to continue to work to their plan, Cash-First: Towards Ending the Need for Food Banks in Scotland, increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 a week and boost funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund.
She added: “We also need to see the UK Government introduce an Essentials Guarantee, to ensure that people on the lowest incomes can afford the essentials such as food, heating, clothing, and hygiene products."
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