Rural poverty: inescapable, ignored, forgotten

SCVO recently published a report on the impact of welfare reform on the third sector. As part of the research for the report, I traversed the country, interviewing organisations from Easter Ross to Castle Douglas. I saw some beautiful scenery as I travelled, but the remoteness and isolation that make Scotland such a special place to live in can also trap some rural citizens in desperate poverty. I spoke to organisations on the frontline in rural and remote communities. They’re frustrated at the attitudes to their sector and increasingly powerless to help individuals and families. Squeezes to public sector funding have affected smaller local organisations and procurement procedures are impacting on rural organisations. Many organisations commented that effective local charities often can’t compete in price with some large centrally-based organisations and lose contracts through tender processes.  This can have disastrous repercussions for the local economy, not to mention service users.

Zero-hour contracts exclude people from benefits, pensions and mortgages…and so the poverty cycle continues

For example, if a community-based alcohol support service loses a contract to a business based outwith the local authority, then local knowledge, relationships and jobs are all lost, and the local businesses that once supported the organisation lose custom. As one organisation director said to me: “Best value does not mean best service.” Rural frontline organisations are also upset that there isn’t enough investment to tackle the key factors in rural poverty that are less of an issue in urban areas. Of the people I interviewed there was unanimous agreement that it is the lack of jobs that’s the main cause of poverty in rural areas. There is a dearth of employers. Tourism cannot be depended on to provide all employment opportunities.  In some cases it leads to temporary seasonal low-paid zero-hour jobs, without sustainability, training or development opportunities. Zero-hour contracts exclude people from benefits, pensions and mortgages…and so the poverty cycle continues. Transport is a key factor in many rural and remote areas despite community transport schemes. Travel costs can present an insurmoutable barrier for some people when it comes to taking a daily ferry to the nearest big town for better employment prospects. Buses are often infrequent and expensive – especially for people on benefits having to travel fortnightly to job centres. The cost of basic food items and petrol can be much higher in rural communities as opposed to a town or city.  This can even apply to locally based produce.  While this is understandably due to transport and supply costs, it affects the people who can least afford to pay these higher prices. Based on local conversations across the country, we need prevention work, ring-fenced funding, and effective joint-working with statutory agencies.  We must maximise local industry, and provide incentives for/actively lobby businesses to create sustainable, well-paid, quality employment opportunities. We have to invest in the local economy, encouraging and promoting local business, and subsidising local produce and services.  We need appropriate public sector funding that recognises that grants and small-scale contracts are often the most effective way of supporting rural service providers and the communities they support. As our research has recommended, if the Scottish Government is serious about tackling inequalities then it has to set out a specific rural poverty strategy or face the prospect of increasing, unaddressed poverty in Scotland’s rural communities.