AROUND 60,000 children in Glasgow are to benefit from a new anti-poverty payment.

The Scottish Child Payment will be worth £10 per child for low-income families by the end of 2022, with introduction for under-6s starting by early 2021.

And this will impact 37,000 families across the city, the Scottish Government has revealed in new figures.

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SNP MSP Sandra White said: “The Scottish Child Payment is an ambitious and ground breaking new benefit that will directly tackle child poverty.

“When fully rolled out, the Scottish Child Payment will benefit over a third of all children – giving families £10 per week for every eligible child under 16 years old.

“Tory cuts are driving too many families in Glasgow into poverty – but the SNP are determined to use every power at our disposal to help families make ends meet.”

The brand new benefit was described as a “game changer” and a “lifeline” by anti-poverty campaigners and is central to the SNP’s ambitions to tackle child poverty.

The Scottish Government this week published estimates, based on the number of Tax Credit recipients prior to the rollout of Universal Credit Full Service, showing how many children and families are expected to benefit in each local authority.

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The announcement comes as it emerged Glasgow has the second highest number of workless households in Britain – but council bosses said the situation in the city is improving.

It is the second year in a row Glasgow has appeared in the top five list of places where no adults aged 16 and over in a home are in work.

New figures for 2018 released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) put the city second only behind Hartlepool, in County Durham.

But Glasgow City Council said the issue being tackled by an economic strategy that includes several commitments to address long term unemployment.

And bosses also point to the fact the stats for Glasgow are steadily improving.

A council spokeswoman said: “Historically Glasgow has always suffered from high levels of workless households.

“From the analysis we’ve undertaken the level of workless households has decreased to below the 2008 pre-recession level, so in that sense these statistics are positive.

“The aim of our Economic Strategy 2016-23 is to make Glasgow the most productive major city economy in the UK.

“Of the 50 early actions we’ve committed to, a number are specifically designed to help address long term unemployment.”

Glasgow has remained in the top 10 places with the highest number of workless households since 2006, falling to nine in 2011 but then rising again.

Since 2013 the figures have steadily fallen from a high of 30% of households with no adults in work to 25%in 2018 – a drop from 24% in 2017.

The council’s strategies to tackle inequality include establishing a Health Inequalities Commission to develop proposals to improve the health of the city.

The commission’s first phase is to focus on mental health, which the council said is a significant issue for residents both in and out of work.

It is also identified as the single biggest factor in terms of ill health and disability in the city, compounded by poverty.

Plans also include a transferable qualification for those engaging with employability support.

The city also has the Glasgow Guarantee, which offers every young person support in the form of work, training or an apprenticeship.

Work is currently under way with employers to increase awareness and understanding of the Glasgow Guarantee with aims to include more people from black, minority and ethnic communities, care leavers and people with disabilities.

Glasgow City Council is also developing a Regional Skills Investment Plan for Glasgow City Region with the Glasgow City Region Partnership and various other agencies including Skills Development Scotland (SDS).

The plan aims to create a skills system that underpins, they say, “a strong, inclusive, competitive and outward looking economy”.

One of the aims of the plan is to reduce the percentage of the working age population with no qualifications or who are economically inactive due to health or disability to below the Scottish average.

SDS also administers Scottish Apprenticeships on behalf of the Scottish Government and in Glasgow in the past year 2833 people started a Modern Apprenticeship.

SDS works in schools to help young people through their academic life and into employment.

In the academic year 2018-19, there were 46,64 engagements with 20,365 school pupils in Glasgow City through a mix of group and one-to-one sessions.

The organisation also leads the delivery of PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) – the Scottish Government’s redundancy service offering free advice and support.

Between April 2018 and March 2019 they supported 64 employers and 1,183 people faced with redundancy.

The Wheatley Foundation, the parent group of GHA, also works in Glasgow to support residents into employment. In the last year, through Wheatley Works, the Foundation supported 788 jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities with the majority taken up by people living in Wheatley homes.

A report earlier this year showed GHA’s investment programme – the biggest of its kind in Europe – supported an average of 2,425 full-time jobs per year since 2003, the equivalent of 36,500 years of full-time employment.

Wheatley Foundation Director Lorraine McLaren said: “It is a sad fact that many people of working age in Glasgow are still out of work.

“We understand the barriers many of them face to getting a job, particularly those who are long-term unemployed.

“That’s why we work hard to create opportunities for our tenants and their families, both through our employability schemes and through our new-build and investment contracts.

“Since 2012 our work at Wheatley has generated 3300 new jobs, apprenticeships and training places for people in our Glasgow communities.

She added: “But creating the opportunities is only part of the story.

“Through Wheatley Works, which we set up last year, we are now also focused on supporting those who don’t have the skills or confidence to apply for the jobs and apprenticeships available.

“This means people living in our homes, many of whom may not have worked since leaving school or college, can access work placements, six-week trades skills trades programmes and a range of other schemes to help them get ready for employment.”