Edinburgh council gives £100 per child payments to families hardest hit by cost of living crisis

Thousands of Edinburgh's poorest families are to be given cash support by the council to help them cope with the cost of living crisis.

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Councillors have agreed to make payments of £100 for each child entitled to free school meals in a bid to soften the impact of soaring energy costs and rising inflation. It follows similar £100 payments made earlier in the year.

The council's finance committee also agreed to write off the £64,000 debt currently owed for school meals and create a £128,000 school meal hardship fund for the coming school year.

And they are to press the Scottish and UK governments to increase welfare payments for those hardest hit.

The cash help was first proposed by SNP finance spokesman Marco Biagi at last month's full council meeting, when he asked for a report on the feasibility of the measures.

Now the finance committee has approved the moves, which will be paid for using £1.2 million of underspend from 2021/22.

SNP councillor Kate Campbell said the biggest problem was with the welfare system which was largely still a UK government responsibility. “That’s why we're seeing such high levels of poverty,” she said.

The council believes the payments will make a difference to families during the cost of living crisis.

"I don't think we've ever seen the level of destitution which people in our communities are facing across Edinburgh, so this is absolutely the right thing to do. I’m sure it will make a very big difference to families across our city."

Lib Dem councillor Lewis Younie said the payments were a good use of money and would help people during the cost of living crisis, but he pointed out the council faced having to cut services over the next few years and urged action to increase the uptake of welfare benefits from the Scottish and UK governments.

"They are the ones with these massive budgets with the framework to actually provide that money month-by-month rather than these ad-hoc handouts."

Tory group leader Iain Whyte wanted to delay the measures until information was available on how they could best be targeted at those most in need.

On the school meal debt, he said: "Some of that debt might be people who could very well pay it, some of it might be people who are in financial distress. It would be really helpful if we were able to target the help at those who most needed it."

The next energy price rises would hit in the autumn, he added. “It might be helpful for families to have the payments then.”

But Lib Dem finance spokesman Neil Ross said: "There is a need right now to help struggling families. This is a windfall so it is appropriate to commit to spending part of that.”

Labour’s Scott Arthur welcomed the payments but warned the impact would be limited. He said: “I think we're all agreed we have to do something. While the money will be welcomed by many people it's not really going to go very far. It's not going to change drastically the situation people are facing.

“People are getting really worried about the bills that are coming down the line for them. These measures focus on families with children and not all the people I speak to who are worried about what’s happening have children."