UNDERSTANDING
POVERTY.
With dignity, respect, and fairness at the centre.
Poverty is often misunderstood. It is not about laziness or poor choices. Families told us clearly: the biggest barriers are systemic - insecure work, rising costs, poor housing, ill health, and services that don’t always listen. Anyone can experience poverty, and the line between stability and crisis is thinner than many realise.
“The line between being in a comfortable life and falling into poverty is a very thin one.”
Fred, End Poverty Edinburgh Member
Poverty is More Than Income
Living in poverty doesn’t just mean having less money. It means being shut out of opportunities that others take for granted: secure housing, a decent job, good childcare, affordable energy, fair access to healthcare. It can mean constantly juggling impossible choices between heating and eating, or between taking a job and paying for childcare.
“I could be working in a good job but then become sick and that means I can’t work, it’s not because I’m lazy.”
Parent, Making it Work for Families
Myths vs Reality
We often hear myths about poverty. Families helped us to challenge them:
Myth: Poverty is the result of laziness.
Reality: Many people in poverty work hard, but insecure work, low wages and ill health keep them trapped.
Myth: Poverty only affects certain groups.
Reality: Anyone can be affected. A sudden illness, job loss or relationship breakdown can push families into crisis.
Myth: Poverty is a personal failure.
Reality: Poverty is created by systems and policies, not by individual weakness.
As one parent in Fife put it:
“I’m skint, so this means I must be resourceful and find ways to get hold of money - it makes me the opposite of lazy.”
The Local Picture
In Edinburgh, Fife and across the city region, thousands of families are living with the daily realities of poverty. Child poverty rates remain high, with more than one in five children growing up in low-income households. Behind every statistic is a family navigating the pressure of bills, stigma, and limited choices.
Why Stigma Matters
Poverty is hard enough on its own. Stigma makes it worse. Parents told us about being judged at the school gate, followed around in shops, or dismissed in GP surgeries. Instead of support, they are met with blame.
“Even after turning my life around, the label still sticks - I’m still judged by my past.”
Parent, Edinburgh
Change the Story exists to end this cycle, to make sure that poverty is understood as a systemic issue, and that families are treated with dignity and respect.