Poverty crisis is costing us £2.4bn a year

UK and Scottish Governments are blamed for not doing enough to tackle the root causes

- LAURA PATERSON

FAILURE to eradicate poverty is causing Scotland to lose out on up to £2.4billion a year, according to a report by antipoverty charities. 

Researchers at IPPR Scotland, Save the Children and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found billions are being spent tackling the causes of poverty which could be better used in preventing it.

The report found between £1.6billion and £2.4billion per year – up to 1.5 per cent of Scottish GDP – is lost due to historic child poverty in Scotland.

Some £2.3billion of health boards’ budgets is directed at responding to the impacts of poverty, while around a quarter of a billion pounds is spent each year on dealing with the consequences of poverty in schools, the report found, but warns both of these are likely to be significant underestimates.