SWBG blog
What’s wrong with childcare in Scotland? A summary
The Scottish Women’s Budget Group (SWBG) is hosting a series of events focusing on the need to further invest in childcare in Scotland. Last month, we hosted the first webinar, ‘What’s wrong with childcare In Scotland? Perspectives ahead of the Scottish Budget 2024/2025’.
Aimed at policymakers and other stakeholders with an interest in improving the current system in Scotland, as well as the public, the webinar explored issues such as the affordability of childcare, availability, and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on service providers. The webinar featured:
- Insights from SWBG’s 2023 Childcare Survey and Pregnant then Screwed Scotland’s survey data;
- Perspectives from childcare providers via the National Day Nurseries Association;
- Evidence on links between childcare, poverty and work from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The webinar also presented an opportunity to discuss recommendations ahead of the publication of the Scottish Budget 2024/2025, and generated a wave of debate amongst those in attendance. Participants contributed their own views and experiences as users and providers of childcare services.
Below we capture the key insights from the webinar.
Looking at childcare through a gendered lens.
SWBG Coordinator, Carmen Martinez, kicked off the webinar with a summary of the SWBG’s ‘2023 Childcare Survey’ findings, drawing attention to the cost of childcare and the impact that the current inflationary period is having on women’s ability to manage this expense. For example, 54% of women told us that they had to make changes to other areas of household spending to manage childcare costs while 30% were struggling with costs. Regarding availability, 38% of all survey respondents found accessing childcare difficult, and 22% found it very difficult (both during the school term and holidays). Those who struggle due to accessibility issues include respondents with school-age children who are unable to find wraparound care which fits around their working hours. SWBG also highlighted some of the issues with the existing 1,140 hours of funded childcare offer, this mainly focused on the lack of flexibility in provision, as only 14% of respondents who qualified for funded hours noted that the scheme fully meets their needs.
We also looked at the impacts that managing childcare have on women. According to our survey, 55% of women said that this has impacted on paid work they could do, with 66% reporting that the cost of childcare has impacted their financial wellbeing, and 48% stating that managing childcare has influenced their decision NOT to have another child. Finally, SWBG brought to the fore the economic impacts of childcare costs on women. Almost 33% of our survey respondents had to reduce their working hours to be able to manage childcare costs (while only 8% of respondents told us that their partners had to reduce their hours). In addition, 20.5% women said they were using compressed hours, arranged informally with their employer to manage childcare. This figure was 14.8% for their partners. This highlights the extent to which the lack of social infrastructure (i.e. affordable and accessible childcare) penalises women, contributing to gender inequality.
Carole Erskine, from Pregnant then Screwed, shared similar findings. According to their survey data, 65% of Scottish parents are leaving the workforce or reducing their hours due to the cost and/or lack of availability of childcare. In addition, 43% of parents who have seen childcare costs increase in the last 10 months say they cannot afford to have any more children, and 65% of mothers with a child under 12 months say that they either have or will have to cut their maternity leave short due to the cost-of-living crisis. These percentages contribute to the increasing body of evidence linking the cost and/or lack of adequate childcare services to women’s inequality.
The providers’ perspective
An interesting perspective, and one that the SWBG was keen to explore following our Childcare Survey 2023, was the implementation of the funded ELC offer in Scotland. Jonathan Broadbery, Director of Policy and Communications at the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), a representative body for private and voluntary day nurseries that are involved in delivering childcare, provided a very informative assessment. He started by pointing out what’s right with childcare in Scotland, recognising where the country sits compared to other UK nations. He highlighted the ambition of the 1,140 hours policy, which center on facilitating parents’ return to the labour market and, very importantly, improving the quality of childcare at a crucial time for children and their development. Other laudable policy principles are affordability and accessibility for 3- and 4-year-olds, parental choice, and its focus on children’s rights.
Jonathan also discussed the differential funding approaches to ELC as well as the impact that inflation is having on providers’ cost-of-operating crisis. For example, whilst 30% of funded hours are delivered by private nurseries, the funding received is not proportional to this, which is exacerbating the recruitment crisis in the sector, but also impacts on parent’s choice and the overall costs of childcare. For instance, parents of younger children face higher costs as providers try to ensure the sustainability of their service. Given these challenges, NDNA calls for increasing investment to pay ‘genuinely’ sustainable rates, improving providers’ business sustainability, and pay for the workforce. Additionally, it would like to see supported employment programmes into ELC and a single ELC account for families to make the system less complex and increase take-up.
Pre-school childcare as an effective tool to reduce poverty
The webinar also discussed other approaches to ELC. Jack Evans, Senior Policy Adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, spoke about their current project, which focuses on meeting one of the Scottish Government’s three strategic objectives for ELC: poverty reduction. Before delving into the project’s details (literature review, polling with families, public and sector consultations and modelling), Jack noted some key aspects that interact with ELC policy such as the value that parents place on their childcare, the risks of ignoring inequalities in unpaid work, and issues affecting the workforce and providers, which are crucial to finding solutions that can work in the ‘real world’.
More specifically, the project’s context considers work intensity trends (number of working hours that people do) for all families, and for those living in poverty. For example, while the most common working set-up for families is both parents in full-time work, families in poverty are more likely to include one parent working full time, and one parent not working (93% of those not in work being women). Regarding people trapped in persistent low paid work (11% of Scotland’s population), 72% of them are women. Therefore, to avoid exacerbating gender inequalities in the labour market, Jack highlighted that having an ELC offer that moves parents into work is not enough. Instead, parents need to move to jobs that pay at least the Real Living Wage or above, and argued that ELC has a role to play in supporting parents to find better work.
Within this context, the project’s literature review captures previous research on ELC, and it includes a summary of 47 recommendations related to the interaction of work and ELC, such as data collection, parent’s lack of choice, the financialisation of childcare or interactions between ELC and the child benefit payment. This literature review found large gaps about what hasn’t been properly evaluated, for example, the variation in delivery and strategy between local authorities. While this does not mean that there are 32 different ELC strategies in Scotland, there is a certain degree of variation, and knowing ‘what works’ would be key to improve good practice. The project’s literature review also focuses on contradictory findings. For example, while quantitative research shows that families are generally happy with the quality and flexibility of ELC, parents may report a different experience via qualitative research. In this regard, the project’s commissioned polling has revealed that the policy aims of the existing offer match with parents’ needs and what parents want from a new offer is not widely different, with the majority indicating a preference for a funded ELC of between 35 and 40 hours per week. This new offer would increase family resilience. In terms of what this new offer would mean for parents’ work, it would allow parents to increase their work hours (from no work to work, or from part-time work to full-time), to access better paid work (overcoming the pay gap that exists from part-time to full-time work) and more secure work.
While there is more data to analyse, some early conclusions from this project point out that the interaction between childcare and increasing income is not straightforward, and that any considerations about ELC policy must include labour market dynamics. In addition, changes to existing offers must be targeted, for example, to close the dissatisfaction gap between rural and urban settings. Finally, Jack noted that new funding models must be on the table, including the review of the existent universal offer to ease the burden on services and to ensure that people on the lowest income get the necessary support, so Scotland can meet its poverty targets.
Scotland’s incomplete journey on childcare
The webinar made it clear that the issue of childcare in Scotland is far from being resolved. While the Scottish Government’s funded ELC offer has been welcomed by families, its implementation has caused challenges to private and third sector providers, particularly as the cost-of-living crisis has increased their operating costs. This, in turn, is impacting on childcare affordability as providers have no other choice but to increase their fees for 1- and 2-year-olds to ensure the financial sustainability of their service.
Inevitably, existing gender inequality in the labour market and/or persisting gender stereotypes over who does care mean that women are increasingly affected by childcare costs, as evidenced by SWBG’s and Pregnant then Screwed Scotland. What’s the way forward? While increasing the scope of the existing offer was in the mix of solutions discussed, speakers agreed that the Government’s priority should be to improve the implementation of the current funded ELC. But how long will parents need to wait for key improvements to be made? And what will delays mean for them, their children, those working in the sector and the wider Scottish economy?
What's next in the series?
Our second webinar will take place (online) on Tuesday 5th March. Further details will be shared early next week via our socials, so please keep an eye out!
This webinar series is supported by Oxfam Scotland
Reaction to the Scottish Budget 2024/2025: Cuts to the Housing Portfolio
Our Engagement and Public Affairs Officer, Yve Barry, reflects on the recent cuts in the Scottish Budget 2024/25 Housing Portfolio and their gendered implications for women across the country.
The Scottish Government previously stated that their “aim is for everyone to have a safe, high-quality home that is affordable and meets their needs in the place they want to be” (2021). In his recent Programme for Government, the First Minister stated that the Scottish Government is committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 (2023). The upcoming Housing Bill is also promised to deliver a New Deal for Tenants including longer-term rent controls and new duties in the prevention of homelessness. The 2024/25 Scottish Budget announced a month ago instead delivered cuts to the Housing Portfolio, leaving questions about the Government’s longer-term strategy amidst Scotland’s housing crisis.
Housing Sector Reaction
We, like many others, are encouraged by the announcement that the Scottish Government will be investing in discretionary housing payments. This investment supports the mitigation of the benefit cap and allows Local Authorities to provide support to qualifying individuals in housing crisis. Furthermore, increased investment in some energy efficiency schemes and continued support for Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans are welcome (CIH, 2023; Findlay, 2023). However, these are the only increased funds for our homes.
There is now growing concern about the Scottish Government's promise to deliver an increased supply of affordable homes by 2032 and address inequality, poverty and homelessness. Government figures show a 30% cut in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) and a 33% overall cut in the More Homes budget, reflecting upon the wider budgetary pressures of the Scottish Government (Scottish Government 2023). The Fuel Insecurity Fund has also been scrapped, which was aimed at supporting social tenants with rising energy costs despite a 4% rise in the UK inflation rate in December (BBC News, 2024).
There has also been criticism that these cuts have come at the expense of the Scottish Government’s plan to freeze council tax that will not benefit those most in need (Findlay, 2023). We have continued to express our concerns about this decision as it will only exacerbate financial problems in Local Authorities and have an adverse impact on many, especially women who rely on public services more. You can read more here: Scottish Women's Budget Group | SWBG blog | Can we achieve equality, provide opportunity, and create community by freezing Council Tax?
What do this mean for women and gender equality in Scotland?
Core to the delivery of the First Minister’s Programme for Government and focus on equality is the investment in our homes. The provision of affordable housing has been directly tied to the Scottish Government’s National Outcome of addressing poverty, and child poverty specifically. However, the impact of decreased investment in AHSP will not only have an impact on child poverty targets but will also have a disproportionate effect on women due to the inextricable link between child poverty and women’s poverty. Within the housing system, women’s position is largely determined by lower income and wealth levels. Particular groups of women, including single parents and disabled women, are at greater risk of poverty and as a result, precarious housing situations. Overall, 28% of women in our Women’s Survey ‘23 were struggling to manage housing costs. This increased to 55% of women earning under £20,000, 45% for single parents, 37% for disabled women and 31% for single adult households (SWBG, 2023). One woman told us: “We need access to good quality affordable housing. Instead, we’ve been trapped in the private rental market and have to move about every two years. It’s very difficult to get accommodation as a lone parent as landlords want to see high earnings and don’t like tenants on benefits.” (SWBG, 2023). Our recommendations to the Scottish Government, informed by these women, included setting out the long-term vision and funding arrangement to facilitate the development of accessible, affordable social housing. However, with this devastating cut in budget allocation, inequalities in housing will continue to make it harder for women to access appropriate and affordable housing for them and those they care for.
Conclusion
Housing is critical in targeting gender inequality, poverty rates, economic growth, and the climate emergency. However, the recent 2024/25 budget announcements were a missed opportunity for the Scottish Government to address the current housing crisis and work towards more equitable outcomes for those living in Scotland, leaving many, especially women, in the grip of rising costs, insecurity and poverty.
References
BBC News. 2024. Tobacco and alcohol fuel surprise inflation rise. Last accessed 18/01/24: Tobacco and alcohol fuel surprise inflation rise - BBC News
Chartered Institute of Housing. 2023. CIH reaction to the draft Scottish Budget 2024 to 2025. Last accessed 18/01/24: CIH reaction to the draft Scottish Budget 2024 to 2025 | Chartered Institute of Housing
Findlay, Kieran. 2023. Budget: Sector hits out at ‘hammer-blow’ affordable housing cuts. Scottish Housing News. Last accessed 18/01/24: https://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/budget-sector-hits-out-at-hammer-blow-affordable-housing-cuts
Scottish Government. 2021. Housing to 2040. Last accessed 18/01/24: 05 Next Steps - Housing to 2040 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Scottish Government. 2023. Scottish Budget 2024 to 2025. Last accessed 18/01/24: Scottish Budget: 2024 to 2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Scottish Government. 2023. Social and affordable housing supply boost. Last accessed 18/01/24: Social and affordable housing supply boost - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Scottish Women’s Budget Group. 2023. Women’s Survey 2023: Women’s experiences of housing and its cost. Last accessed 18/01/24: SWBG-Housing-Report.pdf
Reaction to the Scottish Budget 2024/2025
On Tuesday 19th December, the Deputy First Minister (DFM), Shona Robinson, published the Scottish Budget 2024/2025. As stated in our pre-budget briefing, we knew that this budget was coming at a time of increased pressure on public finances due to an estimated funding gap of over £1billion for the next financial year (Fraser of Allander, 2023). The Autumn Statement did not help ease budgetary pressures. Consequently, the Scottish Government had to make tough decisions to balance the books. What are these decisions and what do they mean for women and gender equality in Scotland?
Here is our initial analysis of some budget portfolios.
Social Justice
Starting with the positives, the DFM announced the increase of all Scottish benefits in line with September’s 2023 CPI. This was a welcomed measure, and one we had advocated for as women are more likely to rely on social security and receive more of their individual and household income from the social security system than men (WBG, 2022). However, we were disappointed that the Scottish Child payment did not increase to £30 per week. Women’s poverty is inextricably tied to child poverty. Due to the high cost of essentials, particularly food for those on lower incomes, we argue that choosing not to increase the Scottish Child payment beyond inflation rates will have a detrimental impact on women and their children, worsening poverty rates.
In addition, we were also disappointed to see standstill funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund despite increasing demand (Scottish Housing News, 2023) as well as cuts to the housing portfolio. Most importantly, there seems to be a lack of equalities’ analysis justifying these decisions, or providing detail as to how these decisions will affect people in Scotland, particularly women and girls.
NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care
This is a key area of the budget as it includes the revenue awards for Social Care Support and the delivery of the National Care Service. The percentage increase of this budget line is 29.1% in cash terms and includes funding for the pay uplift for adult social care staff to £12 per hour and additional investment in Free Personal Nursing Care.
Based on our cost-modelling research to support the transformation of adult social care in Scotland, we consider the total amount allocated to this area insufficient if the Scottish Government is to address the current challenges of the sector. The pay uplift does not recognise the value of the workforce, doing little to tackle staff shortages. Equally important, and despite making a reference to ‘increasing capacity’, there is no mention within the budget of expanding the workforce to meet current demand in line with care needs. While technology and data could play a role in increasing capacity, the very nature of social care is labor-intensive. Therefore, without appropriate levels of investment, the Scottish Government risks realising its intention of delivering a NCS able to “future-proof the social care sector for generations to come - and for people coming into the profession” (Scottish Government, National Care Service, 2023).
Education and Skills
Within this budget portfolio, we are pleased to see a rise of 205.8% (in cash terms) for the expansion of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), with a commitment to ‘supporting sector sustainability’. This change in funding levels aims to deliver the commitment to pay £12/hour to staff in the private, voluntary and independent sector who deliver funded ELC. This is an important step to support these providers in offering better, more competitive rates for their workforce. Yet, this increase may fall short when we consider the impact that increasing operating costs such as higher energy and food prices are having on childcare providers. Regrettably, the budget failed to address the cost of expanding funded childcare for 1- and 2-year-olds, which is having a detrimental impact on families, and particularly women, in Scotland (SWBG, 2023).
In addition, while we welcome the 2.2% increase (in cash terms) in the budget line for ‘equalities, inclusion and additional support for learning’. Yet, this increase simply ensures the continuation of ‘statutory services affected by inflation rises’. Our Childcare Survey 2023 revealed the difficulties that mothers encounter when they try to access specialist services for children with learning support needs, and the personal and economic impacts that this has on them. The budget does not address this issue, or the lack of wraparound care for children with additional support needs (SWBG, 2023) let alone the ‘growing need’ for specialist support services as indicated by the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC, 2023). We are unsure if this 2.2% increase will be enough to also cover the pay uplift promised for the sector. Given the implications that that the lack of adequate childcare services has on women (SWBG, 2023), it is uncertain how this budget line will work towards the Scottish Government’s goals on gender equality and the Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement doesn’t provide relevant information on this
Other budget portfolios
The budget includes other changes which may potentially entrench inequalities. We are particularly concerned about the 11.2% decrease in support for bus services. Our Women’s Survey 2023 found that 37% of women respondents from minority ethnic communities and 27% of disabled women relied on buses, with 41% of disabled women struggling to manage transport costs and 53% of women from ethnic minority communities having to change their travel plans due to the cost of public transport. Considering that last year transport costs rose 15% across Scotland (BBC, 2023), the decision to decrease support could have a detrimental impact on women from these communities, who are also most vulnerable to the cost-of-living crisis (SWBG, 2023; SWBG and Poverty Alliance, 2022). And while the decision has been justified because of shrinking demand, we argue that withdrawing support could also lead to lower demand, and overreliance on less sustainable modes of transport, such as cars, despite the government’s commitment to reduce car kilometers by 20% by 2030 (Transport Scotland, 2022).
The Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy budget portfolio has also been severely affected by changes in the budget. Within this portfolio, the Fair Work and Labour Strategy has seen a decrease of 51.4% compared to last year’s budget, resulting for example in the (planned) closure of the Workplace Equality Fund and the Disability Public Social Partnership. The reduction of the budget line for Fair Work is a disappointing decision from an equalities’ perspective. Further information in relation to this change and the impact of it on women and girls would have been helpful to understand how the Government intends to achieve greater equality in the labor market.
Finally, we are concerned about standstill funding for the legal aid fund, which represents a real-terms cut to this budget line, with consequences for those in most need. According to the Law Society (The Law Society, 2023), cuts to legal aid in England and Wales have left people unable to get help with family, employment, housing and debt problems, or having to go to court without representation. Research by the UK Women’s Budget Group found that 85% of respondents from support services said vulnerable women are unable to access civil legal aid and 77% said a major consequence of the legal aid changes is ‘women reaching crisis point or problems escalating’ before they receive any legal help or advice (WBG, 2023). Therefore, the decision not to increase the legal aid fund could disproportionally affect women, particularly women reporting domestic abuse or discrimination, including maternity/pregnancy discrimination.
Conclusions
We knew that this budget was going to be a challenging one given the estimated funding gap for the next financial year. While some spending commitments are welcomed, these are not ambitious enough to tackle inequality and to substantially improve the lives of women and girls in Scotland.
References
Fraser of Allander Institute, 2023. Scotland’s Budget Report 2023. Last accessed 08/01/24: https://fraserofallander.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Scotlands-Budget-Report-2023-FINAL-for-publication.pdf
STV News, 2023. Warning over lack of support for children with additional needs. Last accessed 08/01/24: https://news.stv.tv/scotland/resources-are-lacking-to-support-scottish-children-with-additional-needs-say-campaigners
Transport Scotland, 2022. Reducing car use for a healthier, fairer and greener Scotland. Last accessed 08/01/24: https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/reducing-car-use-for-a-healthier-fairer-and-greener-scotland/
BBS News, 2023. Soaring bus fares ‘devastating’ for passengers. Last accessed 08/01/24: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65165906
The Law Society, 2023. A decade of cuts: Legal aid in tatters. Last accessed 08/01/24: https:// www.lawsociety.org.uk/contact-or-visit-us/press-office/press-releases/a-decade-of-cuts-legal-aid-in-tatters
Scottish Housing News, 2023. Statistics reveal 7% increase in demand for Scottish Welfare Fund. Last accessed 08/01/24: http://www.scottishhousingnews.com/articles/statistics-reveal-7-increase-in-demand-for-scottish-welfare-fund
National Care Service, Scottish Government. Social Care policy. Last accessed 08/01/24: https://www.gov.scot/policies/social-care/national-care-service/#:~:text=Our%20goal%20is%20to%20future,and%20delivering%20social%20care%20support
Scottish Women’s Budget Group, 2023. Women’s Survey 2023. Experiences of rising costs across Scotland. Last accessed: 08/01/24 https://www.swbg.org.uk/content/publications/SWBG-Cost-ofLiving-report-proof-06.pdf
Scottish Women’s Budget Group, 2023. Policy Briefing: Childcare Survey 2023’. Last accessed 08/01/24: https://www.swbg.org.uk/content/publications/Policy-Briefing---Childcare-Survey-2023.pdf
Invest to prevent VAWG
Blog by Robyn Moffat-Wall, Training and Engagement Officer at Financially Included & Heather Williams, SWBG's Training Lead about women's experiences of public sector debt.
The theme for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence 2023 is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”, set by UN Women who identify violence against women and girls as one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world.
Violence Against Women and Girls is a cause and consequence of women’s inequality. To combat VAWG, it is essential that governments take action to address women’s wider inequality and understand how the decisions they take can help tackle VAWG or further entrap women and girls. Using gender budgeting approaches to analyse decisions can help ensure that we tackle inequality.
One often overlooked form of violence against women and girls is economic abuse. Economic abuse is defined as “behaviours that control a woman’s ability to acquire, use, and maintain economic resources, thus threatening her economic security and potential for self-sufficiency” (Adams et al. 2008) and is recognised as a tactic of coercive control in the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.
Cara’s Story: Cara (not her real name) was subject to economic abuse for a period of 20 years. Her abusive boyfriend had total control over their household finances and assured her everything was in order. When she fled his abuse, she discovered over £20,000 in Council Tax arrears which he’d hidden from her.
This is an extreme example with a large amount in arrears, however this is a common theme among our clients, many of whom had been sending their contributions to their partners under the belief that these bills were being paid.
Council Tax legislation considers couples living together in a household as “joint and severally liable”, holding both parties responsible for payment. There are no specific policies or procedures for debt collectors to consider situations like Cara’s, where council tax arrears have been accrued without her knowledge. Negotiations can be made about the pace of collection, but the full amount must be paid.
Our clients struggling with council tax arrears tell us about how they know their abusive ex-partners are avoiding collection of this joint debt leaving them having to deal with this. Through our work we know that men are better able to avoid this debt. Women are more identifiable by authorities due to their ties to community through caring responsibilities. Women with children are more likely to be:
-
registered with an NHS GP, dentist, health visitor, nurseries’, schools.
-
dependent on social security (Engender, 2015).
These systems require an up-to-date address, making women more visible to local authorities.
From our clients' experience, debt collection methods around public debt has the effect of exacerbating the impacts of the economic abuse they have suffered.
Public Sector Debt Management is an area that would benefit from applying a gender budgeting approach.
To mark this year’s 16 Days of Activism, alongside the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, we are calling on the Scottish Government to work with local authorities across Scotland to invest to prevent violence against women and girls. As part of this investment, we’d like to see a commitment to the redevelopment of debt management strategies and incorporating trauma-informed policies to safeguard against economic abuse within their Council Tax collection processes.
Financially Included are a partnership project between GEMAP Scotland Ltd and the Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership dedicated to tackling economic abuse and improving responses for survivors. We provide specialist advice to women who have experienced gender-based violence and tailored training for workers in Glasgow on best practice in supporting survivors. We have secured financial gains of £860,000, money that our client would not have accessed without our specialist support, of which debt write-offs amount to £35,802 granted by the private banking sector, where we’ve seen a growing understanding of economic abuse. We have partnered in a pilot with Surviving Economic Abuse who lead the way in improving understanding of economic abuse in the private sector.
You can follow us via our social media channels:
References:
Adams, A. E., Sullivan, C. E., Bybee, D., & Greeson, M. R., 2008, “Development of the Scale of Economic Abuse”, Violence Against Women, 14 (5), pp. 563-588. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1077801208315529]
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2018/5/contents/enacted
Engender, 2016, Securing Women’s Futures: using Scotland’s new Social Security Powers to close the Gender Equality Gap, Engender. https://www.engender.org.uk/content/gendermattersinsocialsecurity
Social Justice and Social Security Committee, 2022, Robbing Peter to pay Paul: Low income and the debt trap, The Scottish Parliament. Robbing Peter to pay Paul: Low income and the debt trap | Scottish Parliament
UN Women 2023, Unite! Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite/theme
Reaction to the Autumn Statement
Our Training Lead, Heather Williams, reflects on yesterday's budget announcements.
With any budget or Autumn Statement it is often said “the devil is in the detail”, and this one is no different.
Yesterday, the Chancellor gave the illusion of helping those most hard pressed by the current cost-of-living crisis but in fact he gave with one hand and behind the scenes took with the other. At the start of his speech, he announced that benefits will increase by the September CPI rate, and that the triple lock for pensions will be maintained. At end of his speech, he announced a 2% cut in employee national insurance contributions and an increase in the national minimum wage to £11.44 an hour. For most women, he made these “apparent” increases in their income disappear as he maintained the freeze on the thresholds for tax and national insurance bands. According to the OBR, such freeze will see 4 million more people pay basic income tax and 3 million more move to the highest rate[1]. In addition, despite continuing higher rates of inflation, the Chancellor failed to maintain the £900 cost-of-living payment that many low-income households have been receiving.
The WBG estimate that lone parent mothers will benefit by £76 a year from the NIC changes compared to £248 for lone parent fathers and £417 for a dual parent household.[2] Given the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and higher inflation rates, this will be a real terms cut for many. Those on the lowest incomes will continue to struggle to manage basic household costs such as food and energy.
During his speech, the chancellor quoted Nigel Lawson and said that borrowing is just deferred tax on future generations. We believe that yesterday's "tax giveaway" and failure to invest in public services or tackling climate change, is likely to mean women and girls will feel the economic pain in the near future as a result of needing to shore up already crumbling social infrastructure such as social care and childcare.
This prioritisation of tax cuts, which will benefit the wealthiest more over investment in public services, will impact on the Chancellor’s stated intention to grow the economy. This is because without addressing care and the level of unpaid care women do, economic growth will be hampered.
The Chancellor’s statement was based on the premise that the UK is a high taxed nation. But while tax levels are at historically high levels, the UK is not a high tax country by other nations’ standards.[3] The illusion that we can provide good quality public services with low taxation needs to be shattered. Lowering taxation is not the only way to grow the economy and improve individuals’ standards of living. Public services, such as the NHS, high quality education, adult social care and childcare, can improve people's living standards, particularly women's, contributing to greater gender equality and much needed economic activity.
The knock-on impact of these tax giveaways and the failure to invest in public services will have consequences for the Scottish Government and other devolved administrations. Difficult choices on spending will need to be made as it is likely inflationary pressures such as increased staffing and energy costs will wipe out any budget consequentials from the decisions announced yesterday. We hope that as these decisions are being taken, the Scottish Government uses an intersectional gendered lens to make sure that those most disadvantaged, particularly women, are protected at these already difficult times.
[1] https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2023/
[2] https://wbg.org.uk/media/press-releases/wbgs-response-to-the-autumn-statement/
[3] https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tax-Pre-Budget-Briefing-Autumn-2023-FINAL.pdf
RSSMailing list
To join our email list, simply enter your email address below.
