Free school meal entitlement has been expanded in Fife Schools to young people in S1 – S3 where their family is in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. People can check if they're entitled and make an application for 25/26 online at www.fife.gov.uk/schoolbenefits
There are still a few places left on the course running at Abbeyview Hub, Dunfermline on 20th and 27th August and 3rd September 2025 if anyone wishes to join.
Anyone who would like to become a Fife Food Champion and support the many and varied food initiatives / cooking sessions that help our communities to eat well and live better for longer–there are opportunities to learn how to !
The training consists of three full days, covering food hygiene, elementary food and health and facilitation skills to support cooking with groups. You are then supported to deliver food sessions in a community setting.
If this sounds exactly what you need, click the link and register on the free training website http://hptraining.fife.scot.nhs.uk. Then just search for ‘food champion’ training and select the dates that suits you best.
These will be affected by the bank holiday on Monday, August 25th, even though it's not a public holiday in Scotland.
Payments due on August 25th will be made earlier, on Friday, August 22nd, by DWP, and Social Security Scotland
If you talk about money or money worries with clients, customers or service users, you're welcome to attend this event -
Learn about the benefits administered by Social Security Scotland to help people maximise income and get the support they're entitled to.
Relative poverty is defined as living in a household with less than 60% of median UK household income. Relative poverty statistics fall if income growth at the lower end of the income distribution is greater than overall income growth.
Latest figures show a reduction in child poverty in Scotland as a result of Scottish Child Payment (SCP). 18.0% of children in Fife (11,038 aged under 16) are now living in relative poverty before housing costs. 8,925 children (14.6%) are living in absolute poverty befoer housing costs. While both remain above the Scottish rates of 16.3% and 13.2% respectively, Fife has seen a slightly larger decrease in the rate of children living in relative poverty (-1.7 pp) compared to Scotland (-1.5 pp) in 2023/24.
Table 1 - Number and percentage of children aged under 16 living in relative and absolute poverty (before housing costs), in Fife and Scotland, FYE 2024 (Source DWP)
| Relative Poverty | Absolute Poverty | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fife | 11,038 | 18.0% | 8,925 | 14.6% |
| Scotland | 145,804 | 16.3% | 118,341 | 13.2% |
Note the figures in the table above are the number of children not number of households under both of these measures.
As always, please get in touch with Sheena Watson (Fife Council) or Audrey Whyte (CARF) if you would like more information on any of this week’s content. We would also value any contributions you would like to make towards future editions.
Contact: Sheena Watson
Email: sheena.watson@fife.gov.uk
