CAP has responded to the Welsh Affairs Committee’s inquiry on working towards ending child poverty in Wales
Key points
- Deficit budgets are a fundamental barrier: many households in Wales have incomes that do not cover the costs of essentials, meaning children are growing up in households where even basic needs cannot be met.
- The benefit cap continues to reduce the benefits brought about by removing the two-child limit, particularly affecting families who are out-of-work.
- Wales faces unique structural challenges, including high rural deprivation and unemployment.
- Child poverty cannot be addressed in isolation: it requires cross-government, cross-party and cross-nation collaboration, linking with strategies such as the Financial Inclusion Strategy and the Pride in Place Strategy.
- The Welsh Government should work strategically and proactively with Westminster but be driven by ambition to end poverty in Wales over alignment to Westminster. Wales has historically provided great examples for other nations to follow and should continue to do so.
- Existing community and voluntary sector providers, including churches and charities, must be considered, worked with, and resourced, rather than duplicated.
- The socio-economic duty must be maintained and actively implemented to ensure policy decisions consider the impacts on people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.
- CAP would welcome further engagement with the Committee and is happy to facilitate conversations with parents who have experienced poverty firsthand.
