GLASGOW appears on a list of areas in the UK that are worst for people living in destitution.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published research that shows destitution has been rising and the number of children affected has trebled in the UK in the last six years.

Glasgow sits at number 26 on the list, with 1.5% of the population in destitution according to the report.

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The JRF said the rise is a “rapid acceleration” and is “shameful” as it says the government has made a political choice to tolerate it.

 The report notes that the problem while rising in Scotland is not increasing as quickly here in part due to the introduction of the Scottish Child Payment, to the lowest-income families.

The study found across the UK around 3.8 million people experienced destitution, including 1 million children, an increase of 88% in three years.

As well as Glasgow the only other two council areas in Scotland to make the top 100 affected were Dundee and West Dunbartonshire.

The number of people experiencing destitution in the UK has more than doubled in the last five years – up from 1,550,000 in 2017.

Since 2017 the number of children experiencing destitution has almost tripled – an increase of 186%.

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Paul Kissack, Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “A million children experienced destitution last year – a number that has almost doubled since 2019.  Across our country we are leaving families freezing in their homes or lacking basic necessities like food and clothing. Such severe hardship should have no place in the UK today – and the British public will not stand for destitution on this scale. 

“The Government is not helpless to act: it is choosing not to.  Turning the tide on destitution is an urgent moral mission, which speaks to our basic humanity as a country, and we need political leadership for that mission.  That is why we are calling for clear proposals from all political parties to address this challenge with the urgency it demands.”

The report stated: “A combination of extremely low incomes, a threadbare social security system, the increasing cost of basic essentials and high levels of debt has led to this rapid increase in destitution.”

It found more than half of those destitute households (57%) have a weekly income of less than £85 a week and more than a quarter (27%) have no income at all.

Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, from the Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research  at Heriot-Watt University, who conducted the research, said: “This is the most comprehensive and detailed study of its type but having robust data on destitution is meaningless unless acted upon at the highest levels.

“The number of children living in destitution in this country has nearly trebled since 2017.

“This is morally reprehensible and must act as a stark wake-up call to policymakers across the political spectrum.  No one of any age should be destitute in the UK today.”