THE Scottish Government’s recent Emergency Budget Review set out the strains on public spending. There is no doubt that next week’s Budget means “hard choices” for Deputy First Minister John Swinney. But governing means choosing. And he has rightly chosen to direct resources to those most in need.

This means the Government going as far as it can to protect children from poverty. Spending plans must help families through the cost of living crisis, and Best Start, Bright Futures – the Government’s plan to reduce child poverty – must be delivered in full. Decisions made in the next few days will impact families now and in the coming years.

While the Government has to make tough decisions, families living on the lowest incomes are facing impossible choices. The cost of living crisis has left families scared, anxious and tired.

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But for one in four families, the crisis didn’t start this year. They have been experiencing poverty for some time. The current crisis simply exacerbates existing problems of inadequate and precarious incomes to the point where many families have no choices left.

Parents are going without and turning to food banks and crisis support to help them feed their children in record numbers. The Trussell Trust has seen a 34% increase in food parcels being given out. This winter, 40,000 parcels went to families with children, the most on record. It is not right that children and parents are going hungry and cold and forced to turn to emergency support.

One parent told us: “My daughter heard me talking to her big sister about gas, leccy and food prices ... she found 5p in the street and told me to put it towards my bills”.

The Budget can’t ignore the very real and immediate cost of living crisis that is piling further pressure on families who were already struggling and pulling more families into poverty. We therefore welcome commitments to put more money in families’ pockets now.

The spending review also signalled priority for action to reduce child poverty. Best Start, Bright Futures set out a strong diagnosis and an ambitious set of promises to children.

A year away from when the interim targets to reduce child poverty must be met, we have made great strides towards getting more money into families’ pockets and, importantly, building the right networks of support, advice and services to help families thrive.

Increases in, and a wider rollout of the “game-changing” Scottish Child Payment are the centrepiece for increasing family incomes. It is hoped this will lift 50,000 children out of poverty.

The payment makes a real difference to families and must be protected. Choices will need to be made to ensure the payment keeps up with inflation.

Choices made today aren’t just about the here and now. The plan is about improving living standards and creating a society where children live free of poverty by 2030. There remain significant hurdles to achieving that ambition.

With employability acting as one of the most important keys to unlocking doors out of poverty, we are concerned about signalled budget cuts in this area. In addition, we and others working with families are extremely concerned about the mental health impacts of poverty on parents and children.

The constant worry of bills and putting food on the table, matched with a scarcity of services to both avoid and treat mental ill health is a toxic brew that is already holding people back. The waiting times and barriers to accessing services can make vital support inaccessible for some.

Lower-income families are more reliant on public services and social security, so any cuts will likely affect them most. Decisions should be made alongside them. Tough financial situations force us to think about how we could deliver high-quality services differently, targeting those most in need.

We also need to make sure services can do more than respond to immediate needs. It would be short-sighted not to invest (or indeed disinvest) in policy interventions that will prevent poverty in the future. Nor can we shy away from talking about how we pay for quality services by reviewing our tax system.

If we take the Budget as the clearest expression of Government priorities, then a Best Start, Brighter Futures Guarantee needs to be baked into the Budget that sees the delivery of key commitments across the child poverty plan protected.

Compassion and dignity must drive spending decisions so that no child grows up in poverty. Children must not pay the price for the economic crisis we are in.