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Scotland doesn’t have a poverty problem. It has a system problem. And it’s failing the very people it claims to serve.
Scotland is not short on ambition. Or reports. Or strategies.
What we’re short on is action. And the political courage to dismantle a broken system that manages poverty instead of ending it.
The latest Scottish Government consultation on child poverty hits familiar notes: raise incomes, reduce costs, support families. But let’s not pretend we haven’t said all this before. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of families are still stuck in survival mode – crushed by a system designed to process them, not empower them.
Let’s be blunt: poverty in Scotland is not just about income. It’s about the grinding reality of being trapped in a bureaucratic labyrinth where the help on offer is confusing, disconnected, and often dehumanising.
And unless we radically reform how our public services work, we are not tackling poverty – we are entrenching it.
A system that’s built to fail
For people in poverty, Scotland’s public service system is an exhausting maze of silos and short-term fixes. You need help with housing? That’s one agency. Struggling with your mental health? Another. Need support with childcare or work? Good luck stitching it all together.
This isn’t a support system – it’s a scattergun of well-meaning interventions that don’t speak to each other and leave people spinning in circles.
We call it the Spartacus problem: every agency declaring “I’ll fix it!”, while the person in need drowns in duplication and red tape. The result? Services that smother rather than support, that tick boxes rather than transform lives.
We are wasting public money managing dysfunction.
The Data Doesn’t Lie.
Sean Duffy, chief executive of the Wise Group (Image: Big Day Studios)
Our own example data at the Wise Group paints a damning picture:
- An energy crisis means a 25% higher risk of financial crisis.
- A 21% higher risk of housing instability.
- A 14% higher risk of poor health.
These are not separate issues – they are symptoms of a system that responds in fragments while people’s lives unravel as a whole.
Every day, we see families punished by a system more invested in managing risk than enabling recovery. We know what works. And we’re still not doing it at scale.
Scotland needs a system overhaul – not another pilot
We don’t need another committee, another roundtable, or another five-point plan. We need to tear down the silos. Fund what works. And build a system around people – not processes.
Here’s where to start:
- Integrate public services: One door. One team. Whole-person solutions.
- Invest in relationships: Change only happens when trust is built.
- Track real impact: Outcomes, not outputs. Change, not churn.
- Invest to save: Prevention is cheaper – and morally non-negotiable.
Relational Mentoring: proof that it works
With Scottish Government support, our Relational Mentoring model is already making change happen – in six local authority areas. This isn’t theory. It’s working, right now.
- Professional mentors with lived experience.
- One trusted relationship that navigates the system.
- Support that sticks – through every setback and success.
- Measured impact. Real results.
Read more:
‘Broken public sector entrenches Scots families in poverty’
Swinney warned child poverty inaction is ‘deliberate act of state harm’
This model doesn’t replace services. It fuses them into something coherent and effective. It makes the system work – because it’s built around real people, not policy silos.
Ready to Scale. Ready to Change Lives.
Together with Aberlour, we’ve launched a Whole-Family Pathway to Sustainable Employment – blending relational mentoring, family support, and employability. It’s scalable. It’s grounded in evidence. It’s designed to shift the system away from crisis response and towards prevention and prosperity.
It’s what Scotland says it wants. So what are we waiting for?
We know who needs help. We just aren’t helping properly.
We already know who poverty hits hardest: lone parents. Minority ethnic families. Families with a disabled member. Young mums. Families with babies. Large families.
They don’t need another assessment. Another referral. Another “pilot.”
They need relentless, local, tailored support. And they need it now.
Scotland’s moment of truth
We have the data. We have the tools. We have the models. What we don’t have – yet – is the political guts to move from management to prevention.
Managing poverty is a policy failure. Preventing poverty is a political choice.
Scotland has the chance to lead the UK – even Europe – on public service reform.
Let’s not wait for another strategy. Let’s build the system families need – and do it now.
Because families aren’t just falling through the cracks – they’re being pushed.
Enough is enough.
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