Councils have been urged to use local powers to help tackle the cost of living crisis and the anticipated rise in poverty.

Glasgow, along with Scotland’s other 31 councils, will elect councillors next month to deliver a range of services that can affect people’s living standards.

Anti-poverty campaigners have issued a list of actions they want to see carried out to help with income, housing and jobs to help people cope with the rise in energy bills and the cost of food in shops.

End Child Poverty, a coalition of charities and campaign groups including Child Poverty action Group, Scotland and the Trussell Trust, which runs foodbanks has published its manifesto ti wants candidates and parties to endorse.

It includes prospective councillors commit to ensuring robust, time-bound plans are in place to tackle child poverty at local level and to local powers being used to deliver more cash support to families.

They want an adequate supply of affordable, secure, good quality family housing and

‘fair work’ employment opportunities for all parents, with a focus on women, single parents, disabled people and Black and minority ethnic parents.

Other asks include economic development investment decisions that help tackle the drivers of child poverty and better access to high quality, affordable, accessible and flexible funded childcare to enable parents, particularly mothers, to access the labour market and increase their working hours investment in holistic family support is prioritised.

A spokesperson for End Child Poverty members in Scotland said: “With one in four of Scotland’s children still locked in poverty and hard up families now brutally exposed to massive hikes in the price of basic essentials councils have a key role to play in ending child poverty. It is vital that all council candidates now commit to taking action to help end child poverty following next month’s elections.”

In a joint statement the campaigners, who also include Poverty Alliance, Children 1st, and One Parent Families Scotland, said;

“Child poverty can be solved, but it will need action at every level of government. Councils must use all policy levers to their fullest to ensure families have the resources they need to give their children a decent start in life. Economic development, employment, education, transport, housing and childcare policies must be developed with the goal of preventing and ending child poverty at their heart.”