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Rise in East Lothian pupils needing mental health services and living in poverty

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorMarie Sharp
Published date17 June 2022
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
Hundreds of school pupils were identified as needing help in towns across East Lothian as COVID restrictions were introduced - with the numbers highest in the poorest areas

And the council's head of children's service Judith Tait said an increase in poverty was not just down to the pandemic - but caused because benefits were not enough for parents to feed their families.

A report on children's services across the county during 2020/2021 revealed a snapshot of the issues facing children and young people in its towns over the year.

It revealed a rise in demand for access to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), a rise in children referred to social services and a rise on the number of families who were living in "relative poverty".

The report by Judith Tait - who chairs East Lothian Children's Strategic Partnership - revealed the number of children living in poverty has risen over the last eight years in all towns.

And it said that the independent food aid network which operates throughout Scotland had additionally experienced a 123% increase in the 3 day parcels provided in the space of a year.

The report said: "The increase from the previous period last year (was) exacerbated by the pandemic but primarily as a result of benefits being insufficient to allow families to buy enough food."

The report broke down the main issues facing children in each town by the number of school pupils, percentage in 'relative poverty', numbers referred to mental health services, social work and requiring additional support needs (ASN).

In Musselburgh, which is the biggest town in the county there were 3,177 pupils during the year with 21% living in poverty (up from 18% in 2014/15).

The number of ASN pupils were 950 - nearly a third of all students - and 899 children and young people were referred to social work, with 115 referred for mental health support.

In Tranent, which has more children aged 0-15 registered at just under 4,500 than any other town in the county, 2,876 children were in school. Poverty levels...

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