A GENERATION of young Scots risk being trapped in poverty long-term, unless action is taken to tackle a lack of decent jobs and affordable homes, experts have concluded.

The warning follows a study by the New Policy Institute (NPI) for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), which revealed 16- to 29-year-olds were most likely to experience severe financial hardship.

It found the number of young people living in poverty – measured as 60 per cent of median income – soared to 220,000 over the last decade, despite a reduction among other age groups.

It also highlighted that around one in eight under-25s was unemployed – more than twice the rate of any other age group – and 29 per cent of people in poverty live in privately-rented homes.

Over the last 10 years, the number of people in poverty in the social rented sector fell sharply, whereas the number in the private rented sector soared.

The study is the latest in a series of projects by different charities and organisations which have found growing levels of poverty in Scotland and the rise in the number of people having to turn to food banks to feed themselves and their families.

NPI researchers also found that men in Scotland have a lower life expectancy than men in England at all levels of deprivation, but the difference is greatest in the most-deprived areas.

Echoing the results of previous reports, it also found that 43 per cent of people in poverty live in working households, despite those who are low-paid being better-qualified than ever.

The researchers also examined welfare reforms and found that in 2013, almost one in six claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance had been referred for a benefit sanction each month.

It also drew attention to a “postcode lottery” of sanctions, with on average, one in six to seven jobseekers in Clackmannanshire, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Angus referred for a sanction each month, around twice as many as in North Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire.

The JRF wants more employers to pay the living wage, plus increased training opportunities for people in low-paid work, and more affordable homes.

Chief executive Julia Unwin said: “Falls in child and pensioner poverty over the past decade in Scotland show it can be reduced.

“But sustained action must be taken to stop a lack of high-quality work and a shortage of affordable homes from trapping a generation of young people in poverty.”

Keith Dryburgh, Citizens Advice Scotland policy manager, said: “The numbers of young people hit by poverty is worrying.”

Julie Webster, co-ordinator of Greater Maryhill Foodbank in Glasgow, said the report’s findings confirmed what she was seeing first hand.

“Most people we see are as a result of problems with benefits, either they have been sanctioned or there’s been a delay in their payments,” she said.

“Probably the single biggest group of people we see are young men between the ages of 19 to 29. For me this is a massive concern. They are the sort of group who turn to drugs and alcohol. I think they are also the group most likely to take their own lives when they feel there is no way out.”

Social justice secretary Alex Neil said: “The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recognises the role we can all play in tackling poverty and acknowledges the positive effects of the Scottish Government’s effort to mitigate the worst of the UK Government’s welfare cuts.”

Labour’s shadow Scotland secretary Margaret Curran said her party would extend the living wage, ban zero-hour contracts and invest more than £1 billion in jobs, training and education.

Graeme Brown, director of the homeless charity Shelter Scotland, said young adults are also at higher risk of homelessness.

“While the overall number of homeless applications is decreasing, the rate of homelessness in Scotland is higher for young people than other age groups. In real terms, 10,794 young people aged 16-24 faced the human tragedy of homelessness last year.”