Breadline Kids

260,000 children in Scotland live in poverty, one in four of the population, and shockingly nearly three quarters come from a family where at least one parent works. This sobering documentary looks at the lives of children in families struggling to make ends meet.

Eleven-year-old John has moved to Dumfries from London while his mum's application for leave to remain in the UK is processed. The family is not entitled to benefits, nor allowed to work, so John, his 19-year-old sister Damola and their mum rely on the local foodbank. Damola, who volunteers there, says, “Without this place we'd be done. We would go hungry. John wants to eat when he wants to eat, it's part of growing up.”

In Glenrothes, single mum Helen had to leave work to look after her 14-year-old autistic son Nathan. She's careful, buying day-old rolls for 5p when she can, but still has to rely on financial help from her other son, 17-year-old William, who earns just £3.50 per hour as an engineering apprentice.

Marie works in a bakery in Glasgow, but worries about how she's going to feed eight-year-old daughter Olivia and her teenage son, while in Aberdeen mum-of-three Kerry often goes without food to make sure her three children don't have to. “The reality is that a trip to the cinema could pay for dinners for a week so you have no choice but to deprive your children of what they see other children having all around them.”

Breadline Kids was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland award in 2018 and won the broadcast prize at the 2018 Refugee Scotland awards.