Monday October 6th 2025
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
West Lothian is in the top ten of council areas with highest levels of child poverty in the country.
In a list of shame the county’s figure of 24.1% outstrips Edinburgh and its neighbour South Lanarkshire.
And the number of people classed as in work but in poverty has more than doubled in the last five years.
Despite the shocking statistics laid before the council’s Corporate Policy and Resources PDSP, the baseline level of child poverty has marginally improved since the last years of the pandemic.
In a report to the committee, Anti-poverty manager Nahid Hanif said: “The latest child poverty estimates from the End Child Poverty Coalition and Loughborough University indicate that, in 2023/24, 24.1% of children living in West Lothian were living in relative poverty representing a reduction of 0.5% from 2022/23. West Lothian remains above the Scottish average of 22%.”
Councillor Pauline Stafford, the depute SNP opposition group leader called the figures “a mark of shame.”
The bleak report, the Local Child Poverty Action Report (LCPAR) detailed: “When comparing rates across the 32 local authorities in Scotland, West Lothian (24.1%) features in the top 10 areas with the highest levels of child poverty, ranking ahead of neighbouring local authorities: City of Edinburgh (22.8%), South Lanarkshire (19.5%), and the Scottish Borders (21.5%).”
It adds: “Glasgow sits at the top of the rankings with a child poverty rate of 36%. However, West Lothian does not feature in the top ten Scottish parliamentary constituencies with the highest child poverty rates by county/region in the UK.”
Councillor Stafford called poverty a “political choice.”
Speaking at the close of the meeting she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “These figures today are extremely stark. It is a mark of shame that so many children in West Lothian are growing up in poverty with all of the damaging, long term consequences this brings for our communities and our economy.
“However, poverty is a political choice and I would like to commend the Scottish government for its leadership and decisive action on fighting child poverty.”
In her report Ms Hanif suggested three possible contributory factors that have led to sustained levels of child poverty.
They include the UK Government policy on child related benefits such as the continued two child benefit limit, which has been in effect since April 2017.
The percentage of Universal Credit claimants who are in-work increased by 161% between January 2020 and February 2025. In February this year, in-work claimants made up 6% of the West Lothian working age population.
Finally, children in lone parent families are particularly vulnerable to the impact of the two child benefits limit, in such households, more than half of children are estimated to be in poverty.
The Scottish Child Payment (SCP) was introduced in 2021 for children under six in households receiving qualifying benefits. The introduction of the SCP aimed to significantly reduce child poverty and support Scotland in achieving its 2030 target of reducing the proportion of children living in relative poverty to below 10%.
The weekly payment initially increased from £10 to £20, and then to £25, with a further increase to £27.15 in April 2025 in line with inflation. In November 2022, the eligible age range was also extended to include all children under 16.
According to The Poverty Alliance, the SCP would need to increase to £40 per week in order to have a sustainable long-term impact.
However, a report by the Fraser of Allander Institute highlights that significant reductions in child poverty rates have not been realised.
In fact, relative child poverty, measured after housing costs increased from 23% in 2021/22 to 26% in 2022/23, despite the significant expansion in SCP eligibility.
Councillor Stafford claimed that child poverty figures would be much worse if the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) had not been introduced.
She told the LDRS: “The introduction of the Scottish Child Payment and the Scottish Government’s commitment to scrapping the two-child cap from 2026 means that by 2029 Scotland will be the only country in the UK where child poverty rates are falling.
“I hope the UK government will follow suit as our children do not have time to wait.”
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