Thousands are benefiting from Welsh Government support to help people living in poverty
3 Jul 2014 03:52 PM
“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 yesterday (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.”
TheTackling 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.
Links
Building Resilient Communities: Taking
Forward the Tackling Poverty Action PlanAnalysing the impact of the UK
Government's welfare reforms in Wales