Assembly endorses Bevan Foundation call for Welsh Benefits System

The Bevan Foundation warmly welcomes the recommendation of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee that the Welsh Government establish a coherent and integrated Welsh Benefits System for all the means-tested benefits for which it is responsible.

The recommendation is one of 17 made by the Committee following its inquiry – Benefits in Wales: options for better delivery.

Amongst the other recommendations made by the Committee are for the devolution of greater powers over the social security system to Wales and for the threshold for Free School Meals to be increased to £14,000. The Bevan Foundation welcomes all the Committee’s recommendations and are pleased that the committee has endorsed many of the ideas submitted by the Bevan Foundation both in our written and oral evidence.

We particularly welcome the Committee’s recommendations around the establishment of a Welsh Benefits System for all the means-tested benefits for which the Welsh Government is currently responsible. The Bevan Foundation is currently working on a project that seeks to better understand these benefits and we will shortly be publishing a report, exploring the means-tested benefits that the Welsh Government and local authorities are responsible for with regards to children and young people. We believe that establishing a Welsh Benefit System could improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of families trapped in poverty in Wales.

We hope that the Welsh Government takes forward the Committee’s recommendations.