2025 – a year for hope?

Find out more about how the Bevan Foundation will be working to create a fairer Wales over the coming year

The outlook for Wales and the rest of the UK doesn’t look particularly rosy, with prices continuing to rise at around 2-3 %, anaemic growth in output, and little real-terms increases in wages. But even though the macro context is tough, the Bevan Foundation firmly believes that it is possible to achieve change that improves people’s lives.

Over the year, the team at the Bevan Foundation will be providing evidence and making recommendations that will help to reduce poverty, provide a decent home and secure people’s rights.  Here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming up.

Solving poverty

In the first few months of the year, we’ll be working with Policy in Practice to model the impact of different policies on household incomes. The aim is to show what gives the biggest boost to the cash in low-income households’ pockets, and then develop recommendations for action.  

You don’t need a crystal ball to guess that social security benefits can make a big difference, and we’ll be looking at whether some elements of the UK social security system should be devolved to the Welsh Parliament, including how costs could be afforded and managed.

This time last year, the Bevan Foundation and others were calling for a clearer, deliverable strategy to end child poverty. Over 2025, we’ll be developing a framework for a new approach, drawing on the findings of our modelling work and also focusing on the children at highest risk of poverty.

And watch this space for news about work on poverty and net zero!

Moving people on from temporary accommodation

The number of people living in bed and breakfasts or caravans because they are homeless shows no sign of falling, not least because of the acute shortage of social housing. We’ll be completing our work on how faith- and other socially-owned land could be used to provide more and better homes, and then setting out a route-map that government and others can follow to get people out of temporary accommodation.

Coming up later in the year is work on making best use the existing housing stock, including a look at how homes are being lost from residential use.

Access to immigration advice

Our big plans for 2025 are to build on our evidence on what ‘good’ looks like for people who need immigration advice. We’ll be developing proposals to increase the quantity, quality, accessibility and affordability of legal help, and working with others active in this field to turn them into reality.  

Sharing skills

The Foundation is committed to sharing our experience and expertise, so we have developed a programme of bite-sized training for organisations and community groups, including some free provision to be announced shortly. Articles, reports and briefings on our website will provide accessible insights, and a mix of in-person and online events enable people from all backgrounds to contribute to our work.

More to come

Some of our other plans depend on securing funding from trusts and foundations to deliver them. We have lots of irons on the fire, so keep an eye out for yet more exciting news over the year.