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The Welsh Government has taken significant action to eliminate child poverty in Wales, according to the latest human rights assessment from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).  

Although progress has been made, Wales continues to have the highest child poverty rates in the UK. The EHRC, as the National Human Rights Institution, raises concerns that this persists despite tackling child poverty being a long-standing priority for successive Welsh Governments since devolution.

Following recommendations made by the UN in 2025 for a child rights-based approach to cutting poverty, the Welsh Government has taken several steps, including:  

• announcing a new strategy for child poverty in June 2026  
• progressing the implementation of the Cynnal pilot scheme, a direct child payment scheme
• updating its Child Poverty Monitoring Framework with new data to measure progress in December 2025
• publishing a report on the basic income for care leavers in February 2026, following a two-year pilot scheme where care-experienced children received monthly payments of £1600 

As child poverty persists, however, the EHRC has called on the Welsh Government to implement all recommendations made by the UN to progress economic, cultural and social rights in Wales.  

Alongside action on eliminating child poverty, the EHRC's assessments evaluate progress made by the Welsh Government on a range of UN recommendations. These include gaps in areas such as equal access to maternal health services for ethnic minority women, collecting disaggregated data on bullying in schools, and improving availability and quality of social housing. 

Martyn Jones JP DL, Wales Commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, yesterday said:

"We are all entitled to a roof over our heads, enough food to eat and enough money to get by. Our economic, cultural and social rights underpin these basic expectations – and yet many children in Wales are going without.

"That's why our job – as the National Human Rights Institution for England and Wales – is so important. We hold our governments to account over their human rights commitments so we can all live well together.  

"The Welsh Government has taken positive steps to tackle child poverty. But in order to give everyone a fair chance at life, the government should implement all UN recommendations in full.” 

The EHRC's new assessments evaluate the action – or lack of action – taken by the UK and Welsh governments against their human rights obligations set out by the UN International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This includes the Welsh Government's devolved duty to progress economic, social and cultural rights in Wales.  

The Welsh government was assessed to have taken 'significant action' against recommendations made by the UN in March 2025 to tackle child poverty. Nevertheless, there remain outstanding recommendations which the EHRC urges the Welsh Government to implement in full ahead of the UN's next review in March 2027.  

Background

• The EHRC has published 57 new assessments on its Human Rights Tracker – 33 relating to UK government action and 24 to Welsh Government action. Some areas are reserved to the UK government. The EHRC has provided information on three areas where the Welsh Government has taken some action on reserved areas but it has not assessed them.  
• The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights made its recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments in March 2025.
• The EHRC’s assessments are based on evidence up to 30 June 2026. 

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Related information

• Read the assessments on our human rights tracker