School clothing payment boost for low income families hailed
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A MOVE by the Scottish Government to raise payments from the School Child Payment fund has been hailed.
The fund aims to ease the financial burden low income families of buying school uniforms. Yearly payments are set to go up to £120 from £100 for eligible parents with primary school children and £150 for those with children in secondary.
News of the increases was welcomed by the chairwoman of Moray Council's children and young people's services committee Councillor Sonya Warren (Buckie, SNP).
She said: "The cost of gear needed to kit young people out to attend school mounts up, especially at the start of the academic year.
"Schools are working hard to try to keep the cost of the school day low and affordable to parents however at the start of term when additional items need to be funded it can put a huge strain on families.
"This extra funding will provide families with a bit of relief when buying uniforms. Some families may have already claimed their allowance for this year and will be able to claim the extra allowance."
Also hailing the news was the SNP MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast Karen Adam. She said that the Scottish Government had delivered on yet another of its 100 days commitments promised in their election manifesto.
“Since the May elections, the SNP Scottish Government have been hard at work to ensure the school clothing grant is delivered within the first 100 days of being in office," she continued.
“No family should feel a financial burden when buying uniforms for their children to attend school. That’s why this payment is so important in relieving some of that pressure for thousands of families in Scotland.
“This is one of the many commitments that the SNP are currently working to deliver so that every child in Scotland can have the best start in life. We will use every power at our disposal to double the Scottish Child Payment and extend free school meals by end of this parliament to tackle child poverty.
“It’s obvious to me that this is again a tale of two governments in the UK. We have a Scottish Government that looks to give children the best start in life, and the UK Tory government at Westminster who are challenging us on the rights of children in court and threatening to slash away at the welfare system, and cutting Universal Credit, despite knowing that this will plunge thousands of children into deprivation.
“Scotland is an outward looking, progressive nation, and the Tories are consistently missing the mark here. If we truly want decisions to reflect the views of the people living here, then we need a parliament with the powers to do so. Only with independence will we ever be able to do that.”
