£1.1m+ of Best Start Foods Support for Angus Families
On day four of Challenge Poverty Week, the SNP is highlighting the difference that the Scottish Government’s Best Start Foods payment has made in alleviating food poverty in Angus and across Scotland.
Locally, £1,113,422 worth of payments have been issued since 2019.
The payment is made to a pre-paid card every four weeks to eligible pregnant women, their partners or families, to help pay for healthy food until their child is 3 years old – ensuring that all children in Scotland can have the best start in life.
This cash-first approach, which puts money directly into the pockets of young families, has been commended by the Trussell Trust, the UK’s leading foodbank charity, who argue that direct cash payments are the most dignified and sustainable way to support people struggling to afford food.
Over £57 million worth of Best Start Foods payments have been issued across Scotland as a whole since 2019.
It is totally unacceptable that there should be food poverty in 21st century Scotland – a damning indictment of many long years of austerity under the Tories, now being continued by Labour.
GRAEME
But Scottish Government family support payments including Best Start Foods are making a real difference to struggling households here in Angus and right across Scotland.
I am please that young families in Angus have been helped with over £1.1m of assistance in this way – directly supporting people to buy healthy food for their children, ensuring the best start in life.
The commendation of the SNP government’s approach by the Trussell Trust goes to show that this is the right one – all children, regardless of background, should be getting healthy meals in the first years of their lives, and all families deserve dignified support.
