Poverty and the cost of living crisis

ProjectsMarch 10th, 2023

Developing solutions to rising living costs

With living costs increasing dramatically and households all over Wales pushed into significant hardship, the Bevan Foundation has been at the forefront of efforts to develop solutions to the cost of living crisis.

Aims

To better understand both the causes and the impact of the cost of living crisis on people in Wales.
To develop short term solutions to ease the pressure of the cost of living crisis.
To develop longer term solutions to the cost of living crisis and poverty more broadly.
To educate and persuade decision makers about the need for action.

What we’re doing

We are findings solutions to the cost of living crisis by:

Commissioning YouGov to undertake polling on our behalf to get up to date data about the impact of the cost of living crisis in Wales.
Analysing all official data such as the ONS’ inflation data.
Working in partnership with stakeholders across Wales to get an up to date picture of the impact of the crisis on Welsh communities.
Exploring the latest work on the cost of living crisis at a UK level and analysing how the findings may apply to Wales.

Key outputs

A number of outputs have been developed through the project. Among the reports and briefings that have been published to date are:

In addition to our reports we have held a number of events. Launch webinars have been hold alongside the publication of each of our Snapshot reports with more than 100 people attending each webinar. We have also held a series of in person events including three seminars on the impact of the cost of living crisis on particular groups. Bevan Foundation staff have also spoken at a wide variety of events held by partner organisations to share our findings, and staff sit on various panels and groups, including the Welsh Government’s Expert Group on the cost of living crisis.

We have also contributed to numerous consultations in areas related to the cost of living crisis including the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee inquiry into the cost-of-living crisis, Senedd and Welsh Government consultation on the Welsh Government’s approach to fuel poverty, and the Finance Committee’s work on the Welsh Government’s budget.

Impacts

Our work to date has had a significant impact on the response to the cost of living crisis in Wales. Among our major policy successes have been:

The extension of the Welsh Government’s Fuel Support Scheme to cover more households.
Increased investment from the Welsh Government in its Discretionary Assistance Fund and changes as to how it can be accessed.
The extension of the provision of support in lieu of Free School Meals, initially until the summer of 2022 and further extended to the end of the Whitsun half term 2023.
The permanent extension of the Pupil Development Grant to children from all school year groups until Year 11.
A commitment by the Welsh Government to a rapid roll out of Universal Free School Meals.
A commitment by the Welsh Government to review the value of the Education Maintenance Allowance.
The provision of extra funding by the Welsh Government to local authorities to top up Discretionary Housing Payment pots.

In addition to our work in Wales we have worked in partnership with organisations from across the UK to call on the UK Government to act. Among the successful campaigns the Foundation have been involved with have been the calls on the UK Government to uplift benefits in line with inflation and for the UK Government to provide greater support for people’s fuel costs.

The Foundation’s work in this area has also been central in informing the public’s understanding of the crisis. The Foundation’s work has been covered extensively by the media in Wales with staff appearing on a variety shows on BBC television and radio, ITV and S4C and the Foundation’s work appearing in the written press including the Western Mail/ Wales Onine, the Daily Post, Nation.Cymru and a variety of local media outlets.