The ‘Stick your labels!’ campaign was launched on 17 October to coincide with the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and is calling on leading figures from across public life in Scotland to sign up to the commitment to take action against stigma.
The campaign is being led by the Poverty Alliance following discussions that took place at the Tackling Poverty Stakeholder Group. Over the next few months the Alliance will be contacting people in public life across Scotland and asking them to sign up to five statements that commit to take action to address stigma. As part of the campaign the Alliance is also launching a short film ‘Benefits – A lifeline not a lifestyle choice’. The film tells one of many stories of the reality of the daily struggle to get by on poverty level benefits
- 19% of people in Scotland are living in relative poverty.
- Out of this 19%, 380,000 people are in employment.
- More than half of all children living in poverty in the UK are in working households.
- There are 9 applicants for every job vacancy in the job center in Scotland.