includem research reveals COVID-19 hitting Scotland’s poorest families hardest

Includem has today released a report on poverty and the impact coronavirus is having on young people and families we support.

We asked families what their experiences of meeting day-to-day costs has been like over the past 12 months and what impact COVID-19 has had on them.

Our Chief Executive, Martin Dorchester, said: “We support some of the poorest and most marginalised young people and families in Scotland. We knew that coronavirus was going to hit them the hardest, and this research has sadly confirmed this.”

Key findings from the report include:

• Food:49% of families struggle to put food on the table on a regular basis, rising to 60% for families on social security.
• Transport:Half of surveyed families regularly struggle to cover transport costs.
• Heating Costs:Over half of all families and two-thirds of families receiving social security reported regular issues paying for heating.
• Digital Access:Almost half of all families surveyed (47%) report regular issues in affording the costs associated with accessing the internet.
• Mental Health:73% of surveyed families reported that their mental health was worse than it had been pre-pandemic and was as high as 82% for families reliant on social security.

Dr Briege Nugent, independent research consultant and honorary Research Fellow at the University of Salford, was involved the research:

“Includem’s ongoing research with families provides an important platform for their voices to be heard, and this study highlights that poverty remains the most prominent and persistent issue families are dealing with and are confronted with a daily struggle to even be able to afford the basics. COVID-19 has made the financial situation all the more worse and the adverse impact on mental health is especially clear.”

The charity has released the report as part of Challenge Poverty Week, a nationwide initiative to raise awareness of the impact of poverty in Scotland.

Martin added that the report highlighted the need to not ignore those families who were living in poverty long before the pandemic:

“This pandemic did not create the level of entrenched poverty we are facing. However, COVID-19 has highlighted that we are still denying families their basic needs by making them prioritise food overheat or rent over transport. We continue to stigmatise our children by only providing basic essentials. We still make life hard for people by not supporting them more financially.

“What our families need is an income sufficient to meet their basic needs, access to healthy and nutritious food, affordable housing and public transport, and access to digital services as a public good. Scottish Government needs to provide families and communities with this now – not next year or over the next five years, but now.”

Read the full report here.