Over 70,000 Scottish children of key workers who kept the country going during the pandemic are living in poverty, according to a new trade union report.
The TUC has found that one in five kids of Scots key workers are among the one million across the UK who are below the poverty line.
Low pay and insecure hours were the main reasons for families falling below the poverty line in occupations such as care work, delivery driving or supermarket staff, said the report.
High housing costs further reduce family budgets for essentials like groceries and utility bills.
Child poverty rates are likely to be affected by the decision not to keep the £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit, said the TUC.
The TUC said its research suggested that in the North East and London more than a quarter of children in key worker households are living in poverty.
In Scotland 74,376 children, some 18.7 per cent of children key worker families, were living in poverty.
TUC General secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Every key worker deserves a decent standard of living for their family but too often their hard work is not paying off like it should and they struggle to keep up with the basic costs of family life.
“The prime minister has promised to ‘build back fairer’. He should start with our key workers. They put themselves in harm’s way to keep the country going through the pandemic.
A Government spokesperson said: “Children in households where every adult is working are around five times less likely to be in poverty than households where nobody works. That is why our multibillion-pound Plan for Jobs is vital, as it helps people improve their skills and move forward in their working life as we build back better.”
Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “Under this Government, millions of children are growing up in poverty, the vast majority in working families. A basic principle of our economy has to be that people are paid a fair wage they can raise their family on.
“It is shameful that the very workers who got us through this crisis are in the firing line when it comes to poor pay and cuts to Universal Credit. The Government must immediately stop their cut to Universal Credit which will take £1,000 a year from millions of working families.”
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