Annual Review 2023-24

ReportsNovember 29th, 2024

Over the past year, we have achieved a great deal to help end poverty and inequality in Wales.

Poverty & living standards

The Discretionary Assistance Fund provides cash to households in financial crisis. After successfully persuading the Welsh Government to increase the value and frequency of emergency payments in 2023/24, we successfully called for the arrangements and budget to continue for another year.

Thanks to our efforts, the Welsh Government’s Welsh Benefits Charter committed all local authorities to streamline their devolved grants and allowances into a single Welsh Benefits System. As a result of receiving their full entitlements, eligible low income households could receive an extra £4,000 a year.

Housing and rent

Our calls to increase Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to the current 30th percentile of rents resulted in an uplift to LHA from April 2024, benefiting around 82,500 households in Wales. The social security system now covers in full the rent of 12,000 more households, while thousands more have seen the shortfall between rent and their social security benefits reduced.

The Welsh Government launched their Green Paper on Housing Adequacy and Fair Rents – the first stage in drafting new legislation. It includes several recommendations made by the Bevan Foundation, for example making it a legal requirement for landlords to share how much they charge for rent with the Welsh Government. If these proposals are taken forward into legislation they could benefit the 200,000 households living in the private rental sector in Wales.

Access to justice

For over twenty years, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has set a clear expectation that there should be a guardianship scheme for all Unaccompanied Children. As a result of our call for such a scheme, the Welsh Government is exploring options with local authorities and is meeting with the Bevan Foundation to review progress. We are committed to pressing for a scheme that is independent, leads to better legal outcomes and justice for Unaccompanied Children, and which works effectively.

We demonstrated the lack of provision for people facing destitution, the extreme hardships faced by international students enrolled at universities with inadequate information and support, and the extent to which children are excluded from free school meals in Wales. As a result, the Welsh Government is investigating ways to support local authorities to accurately assess and legally determine the assistance that they can provide. We have established a coalition of third sector organisations to share information information and advocate for further change.