CORONAVIRUS has raised child poverty in Scotland to the level of a “humanitarian crisis” that requires urgent action, Scottish Labour has warned.

The party's call for action comes following a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which found that 230,000 children are currently living in poverty in Scotland.

And the Aberlour Child Care Trust has recorded a dramatic surge – of over 1,000 per cent – in demand for its urgent assistance programme for child poverty during the pandemic.

Scottish Labour is calling on the SNP to do all within its power to ensure that people in financial difficulty are able to access the funds they need through schemes like the Scottish Welfare Fund. 

The party’s poverty spokeswoman Elaine Smith said: “Child poverty rates in Scotland are unacceptably high, and the pandemic has threatened to turn the situation into a humanitarian crisis.

“Hundreds of thousands of children are living in poverty every day. This should shame us as a nation, and galvanise us to take action.

“It is vital that the SNP government does all it can to support and fortify the Scottish Welfare Fund during this crisis – we must not allow any more families to fall through the cracks.

“All weekend we have heard the SNP pontificate about a post-independence land of milk and honey, but they have spent a decade failing to use the levers at their disposal to tackle child poverty. 

“Their record in office over the last decade has been one of abysmal failure – the fact that Scotland is not on course to meet its interim child poverty targets within three years is indicative of that. 

“Poverty is not inevitable. It’s time the Scottish government worked with Labour to help make poverty history.”

The Scottish government has been approached for comment.