Big change is difficult, but if we are genuine about tackling destitution, poverty and financial insecurity, then it is necessary.

Today, a group set up to provide ministers with a roadmap has outlined how big change can be delivered through a minimum income guarantee.

It is a simple yet transformational idea – there should be an income level below which nobody is allowed to fall. A universal guarantee to financial security.

Through a combination of fair work, reform to services and the cost of essentials, and investment in social security, Scotland can ensure that a person never receives less than the level required to live with dignity.

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The first steps to delivering this are possible with Holyrood’s existing powers and finances.

It will enable us to make genuine progress towards Scotland’s 2030 legally binding targets on child poverty.

As The Herald’s Forgotten Children series so painfully exposed, 23 per cent of children – hundreds of thousands of kids – live in relative poverty, where the household income is less than 60 per cent of the UK average.

Many more live with constant financial insecurity, in families constantly worrying about paying the bills and getting........

© Herald Scotland