Easing the cost-of-living crisis this winter

With every sign of severe hardship this winter and for some time to come, the Bevan Foundation sets out its recommendations for action. 

The Bevan Foundation welcomes the Welsh Government’s interventions to date but more needs to be done. It urges the Welsh Government to focus on helping people to meet their needs for food, shelter and warmth, and to use interventions with proven reach and impact which we have called ‘best buys’.  

We recommend the following short- and medium to long-term actions:

Short-term

• Extend eligibility for free school meals to children in years 7 to 11 who live in households that receive Universal Credit, without a cap on earnings – cost £1.3 million per term.
• Uplift EMA by £5 a week (or two £50 payments for autumn and spring terms) to enable 16–18-year-old learners to afford to buy a decent lunch – cost £1.8 million.
• Top up the Discretionary Housing Payment budget by £1 million for the rest of financial year 2022/23 and allocate £4 million top up in 2023/24.
• Extend the Wales Fuel Support Scheme with a further £200 payment to eligible households in January 2023 at a cost of approx. £40 million.

Medium- to long-term

• Accelerate the provision of social housing if necessary through acquisition of existing vacant properties as well as new build.
• Bring forward plans for a new Warm Homes programme, with a substantial increase in investment, a focus on insulation measures, broader eligibility criteria and stronger programme management.
• Improve data used to set LHA rates and seek devolution of powers to determine LHA rates in future.
• Phase in free school meals for secondary school pupils beginning with years 7 and 8.
• Apply inflation-linked uplifts to all devolved, means-tested grants and allowances on an annual basis, with effect from April 2023.
• Accelerate implementation of a Welsh Benefits System to be fully operational by April 2025 at the latest.

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