THE “bitterly disappointing” SNP-Green Scottish Budget will “at best stall progress on child poverty,” MSPs have been warned.

The stark message, outlining the “huge gap” between incomes and the cost of raising a family, came from campaigners at the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in a briefing to parliamentarians ahead of Holyrood’s final vote on the 2024-25 finance Bill.

The reports found that it costs £166,000 to raise a child to a “socially acceptable standard of living,” but there remains a 40 per cent shortfall in cash to reach that standard where parents are not in paid work.

This is despite Scottish government initiatives such as free-school meals from primary Years 1 to 5, free bus travel for under-22s and the £25 Scottish Child Payment.

Dr Juliet Stone, report author and research fellow at Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Social Policy, said: “Even in Scotland the social security system still fails to provide enough for these households to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living.

“Much more needs to be done to protect children and their families from financial hardship.”

CPAG’s John Dickie said: “There is still a huge gap between incomes and the minimum cost of raising a child.

“The Scottish Budget needs to do far more to plug that gap.

“It’s bitterly disappointing that as yet we have not even seen an increase in the Scottish Child Payment to the £30 per week that the First Minister said he wanted during his leadership campaign.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for the government and the Scottish Budget 2024-25 unapologetically directs our resources to those in greatest need.

“This includes lifting an estimated 50,000 children out of relative poverty through the Scottish Child Payment.”