Sharing our work at the Cross Party Group on Poverty

Steffan Evans shared insights from the Bevan Foundation’s work on Welsh Benefits with members of the Cross Party Group on Poverty 

The Cross Party Group on Poverty held it’s latest meeting on 13 October. The Group is chaired by John Griffiths MS, with the Bevan Foundation providing the secretariat.

The topic under discussion at the latest meeting was the need to establish a Welsh Benefits System. The Bevan Foundation has been arguing for some time that the various means tested grants and allowances administered by the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities should be pulled together and reformed to create an integrated Welsh Benefits System. With the cost of living crisis deepening, the need to ensure that people receive all the support they are entitled to has never been more important and made for a very timely conversation. 

Speaking alongside the Bevan Foundation at the meeting were Home Start Cymru. In a powerful presentation Bethan Webber and Izzabella James set out testimony shared by Home Start Cymru staff and volunteers about the challenges the current disjointed system presents families across Wales. Their presentation clearly articulated the need to establish a Welsh Benefits System. 

To conclude the presentations Steffan informed members of the CPG that the Bevan Foundation, alongside partner organisations, have recently commissioned Policy in Practice to undertake work to further our understanding of the barriers that are in place that are currently preventing the creation of a Welsh Benefits System. More information on this work will follow shortly. 

There was great interest from Members of Senedd in the idea of creating a Welsh Benefits System with the idea gaining support from members of multiple parties. To conclude the meeting the CPG’s chair, John Griffiths committed to writing to the Welsh Government asking for an update on the progress of their work in this area and asked the Foundation to keep the group updated on the progress of the work undertaken by Policy in Practice.