Tackling Poverty Update - 21 October 2024

Cost Of Living Update 

Take a look at the Cost of Living Briefing that Fife Council Research Team prepared for the 10th of October Tackling Poverty and Preventing Crisis Board.

The update highlights an increase of 2540 low-income households in Fife compared to last November but a slight decrease in the number of households in fuel and food poverty.

New Independent Charity - Big House

The Big Hoose, the initiative founded by The Cottage Family Centre, has transitioned to an independent charity called the Big House as of the 1st of October 2024.  Sir Iain Livingstone is the Chair of the Board of Trustees and Kirsty Thomson FRSA is the Chief Executive.

The mission remains the same: to redistribute surplus or unused donated goods from businesses to individuals. There are new contact details

General Enquiries & Referrals: enquiries@thebighousemultibank.org.uk
Grant Barnes: grant@thebighousemultibank.org.uk
The  operations will continue from the base in Lochgelly, Fife.

Robertson Trust Grants re open end of October 

Small and Large Grants will reopen towards the end of October, with an initial focus on Financial Security, Education Pathways and Work Pathways funding themes.

• Financial Security improving income adequacy, income security, manageable costs, financial safety nets and advice for those most at risk of poverty and trauma.
• Education Pathways: preventing and reducing poverty and trauma through access and engagement in early years, education, training and learning.
• Work Pathways:
  improving access to good and fair work that can prevent and reduce poverty through increased pay, hours and career progression. We will also consider support for employability, focused on areas or groups with lower employment rates.

Our Funds Update: Small and Large Grants | The Robertson Trust

Joseph Rowntree Foundation – latest report 

Highlights of the findings 

• Very deep poverty is growing in Scotland. The proportion of people in poverty living in very deep poverty has increased to 40% from 26% in the mid-90s.
• The basic rate of Universal Credit has fallen in real-terms and is well below the poverty line.
• The standard allowance for a non-working single person falls 64% below the poverty line.
• For that under-25, the gap is even wider at 75%.
• Families with a heightened risk of poverty are often reliant on social security:
  • 95% of lone parents
  • 62% of the families where someone is disabled
  • 83% of those with 3 or more children - the two-child limit contributing to the very high poverty rates for these families.

Full report from the follwing link  https://lnkd.in/e3E8Rvk3

Closing the Disability Employment Gap in Scotland

In 2023, the Economy and Fair Work Committee in Scottish Parliament launched an inquiry into how this policy goal was going. In 2023, it seemed like it was going quite well. However, the inquiry turned up less-than-optimistic findings, which have been published in a report out this week . Full report below and summary of findings is the second link

Closing the Disability Employment Gap in Scotland

Closing the Disability Employment Gap in Scotland | Scottish Parliament

Please get in touch if you would like to know more about any of the updates this week,

Contact: Sheena Watson

Email: sheena.watson@fife.gov.uk