CHALLENGE Poverty Week – co-ordinated by the Poverty Alliance and supported by organisations from every major sector in Scotland – takes place this week at a time of growing hardship across Scotland, the organisers say.

Running from today until Sunday, it will see hundreds of organisations from across Scotland come together – through holding events, activities, and actions – to demand solutions to a rising tide of poverty.

Organisations taking part include children’s charities, third-sector organisations, trade unions, schools, local authorities, football clubs, and environmental organisations.

Highlights of the week include:

  • The publication of Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s state-of-the-nation Poverty in Scotland report;
  • The delivery of the annual Challenge Poverty Week lecture, in collaboration with the Poverty Alliance and the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit, by Professor Ruth Lister tomorrow;
  • The Poverty Alliance annual conference on Friday, featuring a discussion between Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Professor Olivier de Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.

There will also be a series of online public events.

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Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance, said: “Challenge Poverty Week is an opportunity for organisations and individuals to raise their voices in support of the solutions to poverty, including the immediate doubling of the Scottish Child Payment and the extension of free bus travel to those on low-income benefits and all under-25s.

“Reversing the UK Government’s decision to cut Universal Credit will be a call that organisations across Scotland are supporting.

“It is a decision that highlights that tackling poverty is about political choices. We need to make better choices now if we are to prevent more people being swept into poverty.”