Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017
Scottish law setting statutory targets to reduce child poverty by 2030.
Holyrood recommitted to the Act's 2030 goal on 22 September 2026, voting 91 to 12 for a Scottish Labour amendment that called child poverty "an immediate national priority" inside the First Minister's right-to-decide motion.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can Scotland still cut child poverty below 10% by 2030?
Timeline for Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017
Marra's MSPs vote for right to decide
UK Local Elections 2026Background
The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (2017 asp 6) is the legal basis for Scotland's child poverty targets. It places the duty on Scottish Ministers and measures success in a single year: the financial year beginning 1 April 2030.
By then, fewer than 10% of children in Scotland must live in relative poverty. Three further measures carry a ceiling of 5% each: absolute poverty, combined low income and material deprivation, and persistent poverty. The Act also fixes interim targets along the way, so progress can be judged before the final Deadline arrives.
Because the targets are statutory, they bind whichever party governs at Holyrood, and opposition parties use them as a yardstick for ministers. In September 2026 Scottish Labour wrote a recommitment to the 2030 target into a constitutional motion, and MSPs approved that wording by 91 votes to 12.
Holyrood renews its 2030 poverty pledge
The statute's targets became a bargaining chip on 22 September 2026. Michael Marra, newly elected leader of Scottish Labour, made his party's support for John Swinney's motion on Scotland's constitutional future depend on wording that restated the Act's 2030 goal and named child poverty "an immediate national priority". MSPs passed that amendment by 91 votes to 12, and the amended motion then carried 84 to 18.
For the Act itself the vote changed no duty, because the targets were already law. Its value was political: a large cross-party majority restated the 2030 Deadline with about three and a half years left to push relative child poverty below 10%. On the same day the Welsh Government listed child poverty among its own priorities for 2026 to 2030, though without a numerical target of its own.
What are the child poverty targets in Scotland?
When must Scotland meet its child poverty targets?
Why did Scottish Labour cite the Child Poverty Act in the independence motion?
