Child poverty in Scotland is lower than in the rest of the UK, but 140,000 children are still growing up in poor families, warns a new Government commissioned report.

The State of the National 2015 document says that while Scotland has fewer workers paid less than the Living Wage than the rest of the UK and more mothers in couples work, almost one in five employees are low paid.

The document compiled by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission says: "There is still a long way to go to achieve the vision of eradicating child poverty in Scotland, and the Scottish government will need to put in place a new institutional framework to replace the Child Poverty Act 2010. "

Out of the 12 devolved nations and English regions, Scotland has the lowest rate of child poverty after housing costs, the second highest parental employment rate, the fourth lowest proportion of children in workless households, and the third lowest prevalence of low-paid jobs.

The report adds: "However, there is no room for complacency. There is still a very long way to go to eradicate child poverty in Scotland."

In November 2014 the Institute for Fiscal Studies published projections for Scotland which suggested that the proportion of children in relative poverty would increase by seven per cent and the proportion of children in absolute poverty would increase by 20 per cent, between 2013–14 and 2020–21.

The report says: "These challenges have grown since last year, with the announcement of a further £12 billion of discretionary cuts in the UK welfare budget targeted on children and working-age adults by the incoming UK Government that are not factored into these projections."

The report said that relative child poverty before housing costs was 14 per cent in Scotland, compared to 17 per cent in the UK as a whole and 21 per cent five years earlier in 2008–09.

Absolute child poverty before housing costs was 15 per cent, compared to 19 per cent in the UK as a whole and 20 per cent five years earlier in 2008–09.

Material deprivation before housing costs was 13 per cent, the same as in the UK as a whole. This has been rising over the last two years from nine per cent in 2011–12.

Relative and absolute poverty before housing costs were both at half the levels seen in 1999–2000, described as a "significant achievement".

The proportion of children in Scotland who live in workless households has decreased rapidly in recent years and is slightly lower than the UK average. Only 10.9 per cent of children in Scotland live in workless households compared to 15.8 per cent in 2012 and 11.8 per cent in the UK as a whole.

The report adds: "However, despite this good performance relative to the rest of the UK, progress against the absolute child poverty after housing costs measure stalled in the mid-2000s and the rate has been increasing since 2010–11. As a result, child poverty against this measure was the same in 2013–14 as it was almost a decade earlier in 2004–05."