Programme for Government: puts poverty front and centre — but can it go far enough?
Published: 9 May 2025
The Scottish Government’s 2025–26 Programme for Government (PfG) sets out its latest promises and priorities. At the heart of this year’s plan is a continued focus on tackling poverty especially in the face of rising living costs and growing pressures on family budgets. But what does the PfG say and crucially how will it be implemented?
Dr Claire MacRae, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Public Policy, provides a quick insight on the Programme for Government.
The Scottish Government's 2025-26 Programme for Government (PfG) placed a continued emphasis on combating poverty. It includes specific actions to address the drivers of poverty in Scotland. The First Minister, John Swinney, referred to the ‘cost of living guarantee’ and spent much of his speech summarising anti-poverty policies. The statement was very light on new policies and, rather than introduce bold new ideas, largely maintains the status quo with additional investment. That said, the commitment to mitigate the UK’s two-child benefit cap (which limits support for families with more than two children) and to restore the winter fuel payment for pensioners is significant especially for vulnerable groups. In both cases, the Scottish Government can soften the blow of certain UK policies, by mitigating impact, rather than transforming the system. This is a good example of how differences in policy decision making can impact poverty alleviation by diverting key resources from other policy areas.
Tackling poverty requires a multi-agency response to implementing the PfG. Yet, a persistent challenge that can weaken its delivery is siloed policymaking. In the PfG, we see multiple strong commitments to social welfare, economic growth, and environmental sustainability, with specific actions for each area outlined. Each is valuable, but a lack of joined-up policy and budget planning between them can reduce their combined anti-poverty impact. This can lead to fragmented services, duplicated efforts, and missed opportunities to tackle the complexity of multi-level policymaking and decision-making. Complex social problems like poverty, inequality, do not fit neatly into departmental boxes but too often, we see a lack of a cohesive approach across and within all levels of government(s). In Scotland, even with a relatively small government structure, cross-departmental collaboration remains challenging.
For the PfG to implemented effectively it requires a collaborative approach to policymaking across government departments and administrations. Our project ‘The State of Poverty’, funded by the Robertson Trust until August 2026, explores this challenge in more detail. Drawing on a people-centred approach to policymaking it will evidence how decisions and policymaking often, unintentionally, compound hardship for those in poverty. For anti-poverty policymaking to be effective the governance system needs to work with it rather than against it.
For more information about the Centre for Public Policy's 'State of Poverty' research please contact: kimberley.somerside@glasgow.ac.uk
First published: 9 May 2025
The First Minister announced the Programme for Government on Tuesday 6 May, earlier than usual in anticipation of the Holyrood election in 2026. The Centre for Public Policy will be publishing 'Quick Insights' over the coming days on some of the key policy announcments.
Read the full Programme for Government 2025-26 here: Building the Best Future for Scotland.