A CAMPAIGN to stop prejudicial attitudes towards poverty has been re-launched.

Stick Your Labels aims to end stigma associated with poverty, and to allow people to seek help without fear of being judged.

Councils across the country have been signing up to the effort with staff being made aware of the reality of poverty and the efforts to end it.

The Campaign is run by the Poverty Alliance who hope to turn around attitudes that blame poverty on the poor.

Stick Your Labels aims to challenge the collective myths and focus on the reality of individual experiences of poverty.

The campaigners are fighting the use of judgemental language in some sections of the media and some politicians.

There is growing concern that people living in poverty are being demonised allowing greater cuts to the welfare system to be pushed though with divisive slogans like ‘strivers versus skivers’ being repeated to create an image of the undeserving poor.

The campaign has three key pledges, that poverty is not inevitable and is instead the result of political choices and organisations will set out their contribution to tackling poverty.

That attitudes matter and a pledge not to use language that stigmatises people in poverty.

And that actions change attitudes and a pledge to address negative attitudes.

The campaign is seeking support from the public, private and voluntary sector to combat the negative images that are perpetuated.

South Lanarkshire Council is one of many local authorities taking part in action during Challenge Poverty Week.

Jackie Burns, Deputy Leader of the Council, signed the Stick Your Labels pledge on the council’s behalf.

The campaign will see daily e-mails sent to staff and links to personal testimonies.

Councillor Burns said: “Challenging the stereotypes that surround people who are trying to deal with the issues of poverty and low income is something everyone should get behind.

“There can be so many reasons why people might find themselves struggling financially and often it is through no fault of their own.”

Cosla, the organisation that represents Scotland’s councils, also backs the campaign.

A COSLA spokesperson said: “COSLA unanimously agreed to sign up to the ‘Stick Your Labels’ Campaign. Council Leaders have long recognised and sought to reduce the inequalities that exist in our communities. Heaping the indignity of stigma upon the reality of poverty is unacceptable and needs to be challenged at the same time that we address its underlying causes.”

Stick Your Labels was initially launched in 2011 but has been re-launched this year in the face of a new wave of welfare cuts from the Tory majority Westminster Government.

The campaign has already challenged government policy which it believes will further stigmatise people on benefits.

It has branded Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith's idea that benefits should be loaded on to a pre-paid card only to be used for goods deemed to be essential.

The Poverty alliance said such a move would be undignified and the impact would be an implication that poverty was the result of individual choices and not the structure of society or government decisions.

Peter Kelly Director of the Poverty Alliance, said: “It is great to see these local authorities leading the way in taking actions to address negative attitudes towards people living in poverty.

“When we speak with people living in poverty, the one issue that almost everyone raises is feeling stigmatised or judged.

“This is why the Stick Your Labels Campaign is so important – we all have a role to play in tackling poverty and the stigma associated with low incomes.”

Mr Kelly warned demonization was being used to help justify the Conservative cuts, reducing the welfare state and pushing an estimated extra 100,000 people in Scotland into poverty.

He added: “In recent years we have witnessed a hardening of attitudes towards the welfare state, fuelled largely by welfare reform and divisive language used by politicians and the media.”