2024: all-change in politics but little change for everyone else

As 2024 draws to a close, Bevan Foundation Director, Victoria Winckler, looks back at the big issues of the year and the Bevan Foundation’s achievements.

The last 12 months have brought extraordinary political change.

As well as two Prime Ministers, there have been three First Ministers of Wales and a new deputy FM. If that’s not enough there have been no less than four Welsh Government Cabinet secretaries for the economy and three for health. 

During this political turbulence there has been little good news for ordinary people.

Our Snapshot of Poverty showed that around one in seven people are struggling to afford everyday essentials such as food, gas and electricity, and rent – unchanged in a year. Other measures show that poverty is getting deeper than ever, with demand for emergency support, from temporary accommodation to the Discretionary Assistance Fund, at record levels.

Public services have been under huge pressure over the year.

Too many children are missing school because they’re absent or excluded, more than 400,000 NHS treatments have yet to start, and less than 700 new social homes were completed in the first half of the year. Even the justice system is not immune – there is a huge backlog of cases in all courts and Wales is a desert for legal aid. We revealed how some immigration rules and the lack of legal advice are causing very severe problems for many migrants to Wales.

While part of the Bevan Foundation’s role is to challenge government to do more to promote social justice and protect human rights, we also actively seek to develop practical solutions.

Early in 2024, our calls to streamline and simplify devolved grants and allowances into a coherent whole achieved a major step forward when the Welsh Government and all 22 local authorities signed a Welsh Benefits Charter, committing them to implementing a better system. A further step on the path came in September, when, thanks to the Bevan Foundation’s evidence, all primary school pupils became entitled to a free, hot meal. And towards the end of the year, Welsh Government secondary legislation paved the way to around 60,000 households getting support with their Council Tax bills that they were missing out on, as urged by the Bevan Foundation.

There is a way to go on other issues.

We highlighted that children from low income families with No Recourse to Public Funds are still to be guaranteed a free school meal in all local authorities. We showed that provision of legal aid for immigration cases needs to more than double to meet need, and that unaccompanied children seeking sanctuary in Wales have yet to have a statutory guardian to protect their interests. A step change in social housing provision is urgently required to provide a decent home for people in temporary accommodation, and the gaping holes in provision of childcare need to be filled to reduce the exceptionally high rates of poverty amongst families with young children. While the Welsh Government shares many of our concerns, there is yet to be significant change in legislation, policy or practice. We will carry on making the case.

An important part of what we do is sharing our findings with others, whether through publishing articles, briefings and reports; speaking at our own and others’ events; or commenting in the media. We’ve also trained dozens of people in understanding poverty and influencing decision-makers.

We could not do what we do without a great team of staff, with three new colleagues joining us over the year, nor without our fantastic trustees, with four new board members giving their time. All our work is underpinned by our generous funders, from larger trusts and foundations to our loyal supporters who give £4.25 a month. Each has enabled the Bevan Foundation to go from strength to strength and in so doing, help to achieve a fairer Wales.