Poverty

Poverty means not having enough resources to meet basic needs, including needs associated with being part of society. One in four people in Wales lives in income poverty.


Why poverty matters

Poverty has a deep and long-lasting effect on people’s lives, affecting everything from how long people live, their risks of domestic violence or their attainment at school.

Wales cannot afford poverty. It wastes people’s potential, hampers economic growth and costs around £3.5 billion a year. If we don’t act poverty is likely to increase further.

What we are doing

We’re finding ways to reduce poverty through a range of projects summarised below – check out the project pages for more information.

An anti-poverty strategy for Wales

We are working with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to find new solutions to poverty in Wales and the UK. Our work to date includes:

  • A briefing on the latest poverty statistics in Wales (summary available here)
  • Proposals to rethink definitions of poverty (available here)
  • Evidence to the National Assembly for Wales Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee’s inquiry into poverty (available here).

We’ve also looked at the benefits of increasing the number of people paid the Living Wage and how to achieve it.

Find out more on our project pages on poverty and the Living Wage.

Welfare reform

We have highlighted the impact of changes to social security benefits on people in Wales overall, and the specific impacts on disabled people, visually impaired people and women.  Our briefings on benefits and on tax credits have been especially popular.

Out latest project, Making Welfare Work for Wales, explored parts of the social security system could be devolved to get a ‘better fit’ between people’s needs and benefits as well as inviting leading contributors to speak at three keynote events – find out more on the project page.

Community solutions

We have explored the experiences of poverty and social exclusion in several small communities in Wales, highlighting the interaction of place and poverty.  For more information check out our reports on:


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