A second opportunity to discuss tackling child poverty

My early reflections of the meeting have left me feeling very positive.

The day was good. It was sunny. And it was a great opportunity to meet Changing Realities participants and team members – people who we’ve become used to working online with – in person. There were lots of new faces and some male representation in the room as well. So that felt quite new and was a very nice addition to the group who went to Bute House previously.

I was so happy that the First Minister, John Swinney, came to the meeting. Having had to pull out a few days before due to a diary clash, in the end, he was able to attend for the first half hour.

Finding that he had a small window felt like a testimony to how important he thinks our work is. I felt valued by this gesture of giving whatever he could in that window of time. His presence was a great addition: he comes to listen, he doesn't come there to talk.

And that is very important, I feel.

When we were with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville, and other senior staff, we touched upon different topics as well, for example, Social Security Scotland, and we agreed that we would like to come back in future to speak about that topic.

I think everybody had such valuable points to make, and everybody’s concerns were given attention and felt important.

The will is there. The Scottish Government want to make changes. They want to update things and they really value what they hear from our side – from lived expertise.

I think it will be great if engaging with lived expertise becomes part of policy because it brings attention to the problems and hurdles that families on low incomes face. It is encouraging to think that how I feel or what I say has been effective because it is part of policy.

Also, the credit goes to the Changing Realities team, with all the work and different aspects needed to make this opportunity possible.

It is just like a dream: that we, normal people in our day-to-day existence can reach out to the people in power, and we can answer directly to the people in power. We can hold those who make the policies to account for their decisions; we can ask them and inform them what real changes are needed that we want to see.

That is really empowering.

So I'm very proud of myself and I'm so happy that I got this opportunity to be part of such an amazing group. Being able to speak to the authorities directly and say what difference their decisions will make to our lives and other people's lives really adds value to my own life as well. It was a really positive experience!