Parental Employability Support Fund (PESF)

Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is our national mission. Employment offers a sustainable route out of poverty for many families, that is why increasing earned incomes is a critical element of our approach to reducing child poverty. To support parents to increase their income from employment, Parental Employability Support has been a funded priority since April 2020, helping parents to move towards, into and to sustain fair work.

The Scottish Government recognises that one of the most effective ways of eradicating child poverty is by enabling parents to enter sustainable work, supporting them to increase their income from employment.

Parental Employability Support is delivered across all 32 Local Authority areas through the No One Left Behind approach, Scotland’s devolved approach to employability services. Parents receive holistic, person-centred support from a dedicated key worker who can assist with skills development and training as well as helping to reduce barriers to employment through access to flexible, wrap-around support.

Since April 2023, Employability Child Poverty Coordinators have been introduced at a local level to drive alignment and integration between employability support and the wrap-around services required to support parents facing structural barriers to the labour market.

All parents on low incomes are eligible to receive Parental Employability Support with a specific focus on the priority family groups most at risk of experiencing poverty:

• Lone parents
• Parents with disabilities
• Families with a disabled child
• Young parents aged 25 years and under
• Minority ethnic families
• Families with 3 or more children
• Families where the youngest child is under 1 year

Positive outcomes experienced by parents include entering employment, further and higher education, training, work experience, volunteering and gaining a qualification.

Quarterly statistical publications provide further detail on the number of people across Scotland accessing our services and outcomes achieved.

Developed in partnership, you can read more about how we aim to eradicate child poverty in Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2026-2031.

To support the delivery of our wider commitments, we published the No One Left Behind Employability Strategic Plan 2024–2027 on 13 September 2024, setting out the actions we will take within employability. We report on our progress annually, with the first annual report published on 16 December 2025.

Contact your Local Employability Lead to find out how to access Parental Employability Support in your area.

Additional help and support is available at www.parentclub.scot/work.