“New independent research on the impact of the UK Government’s tax and welfare reforms confirms our concerns about their impact on poor households in Wales. That is why we are doing all that we can to tackle poverty and are publishing details of progress with our Tackling Poverty Action Plan,” the Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty, Vaughan Gething, said today (2 July).
When we published the refreshed Tackling Poverty Action Plan last year we committed to report on progress annually. We set targets in the key areas where we want to make a difference. In the report we have set out progress to date because we want to be transparent and accountable for our actions.
The Deputy Minister made his comments during a visit to meet families who have moved into affordable housing, part-funded by the Welsh Government. Providing more affordable housing is a key commitment within the Tackling Poverty Action Plan. Thousands of people are benefiting from Welsh Government support to help households in poverty.
The latest research commissioned by the Welsh Government and undertaken by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) considers the impact of recent tax changes as well as welfare changes. The research shows that, on average, households in Wales will be worse off by around £11 a week because of these changes. Overall, they are expected to result in an annual loss to the Welsh economy of around £720 million.
According to the IFS report, households with children, particularly those who are poor, are the hardest hit by welfare reforms compared to those without children and pensioners. Changes to the benefit system hit poorer households harder than middle and higher income households, while tax changes are most beneficial to middle income households. The research finds that even the UK Government’s much heralded Universal Credit system is likely to lead to a net loss in Wales. It also shows that disabled households lose significantly more than non-disabled households, and such households are more likely to have lower incomes. Overall, the tax and welfare changes mean that those around the poverty line see the largest income losses.
The Deputy Minister speaking with families at homes built by Melin Homes in Blaenau Gwent said:
“Around a quarter of adults and a third of children in Wales live in poverty. We’ve don’t believe that this is acceptable which is why we are committed to tackling poverty. Today I’m delighted to publish our Tackling Poverty Action Plan annual progress report which shows how thousands of households have been helped.”
Commenting on the IFS research, the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, Jeff Cuthbert said:
“These findings are yet further evidence of the harsh impact that the UK Government’s reforms are having in Wales. It isn’t just affecting individual families but taking millions of pounds out of our economy. Money that could be creating jobs, supporting public services and building stronger communities.
“The Welsh Government continues to do all it can to help the most vulnerable in Wales. As well as the targets in our Tackling Poverty Action Plan we are also funding organisations who provide free debt and money management advice and supporting the expansion of credit unions.”
Today’s Tackling Poverty Action Plan report outlines progress and highlights include:
Last year we supported over 3,000 families through Families First.
Up to May 2014, Jobs Growth Wales has created 13,223 job opportunities for young people who are not in employment, education or training, with 9,978 young people filling these opportunities.
We are supporting an additional 750 job opportunities with Jobs Growth Wales targeting unemployed young people from Communities First clusters. By May 2014, 231 job opportunities have been created. Of those, 128 job opportunities have been filled by young people living in Communities First clusters.
The Lift Programme was launched in March this year to deliver 5,000 training and employment opportunities to people in workless households by the end of 2017. Over 260 people have already been helped into training and employment opportunities.
Latest evidence indicates an improvement in the health of the most deprived fifth of the population.
Between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2013, 4,474 additional affordable housing units were built. This is 45% of the increased target of 10,000 additional affordable homes (this target was updated due to the speed of progress).
We are on course to meet the target of bringing 5,000 empty properties back to use by the next Assembly elections. Since 1 April 2011, 2,178 empty private sector dwellings have been brought back into use.
