In addition to funds from the UK Government social security system, the Welsh Government provides a range of support that can be worth up to £4,000 per year for low-income households. This is sometimes referred to as the Welsh Benefits System.
Our article explains what the Welsh Benefits System is. We also set out what the Welsh Government is doing to try to create a more “coherent and compassionate” approach to administering it.
What is the Welsh Benefits System?
The Bevan Foundation describes ‘Welsh benefits’ as means-tested financial support provided by devolved bodies or local authorities. Key ‘Welsh benefits’ identified by the Welsh Government include the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), Free School Meals, and the School Essentials Grant.
For a number of years the Bevan Foundation has called for the Welsh Government to develop these schemes into a Welsh Benefits System that provides “a coherent and seamless system of support that helps to lift people out of poverty”. This has been supported by other civil society organisations and Senedd Committees. The Welsh Government has committed to delivering a more “coherent and compassionate” system, and has established a Streamlining Welsh Benefits steering group to take this work forward. This group says that all the payments, grants and benefits devolved to the Welsh Government are potential areas of focus for its work, although some (e.g. Student Finance Loans) may not be as good a fit as others.
The Bevan Foundation are concerned that people aren’t aware of the support available through the Welsh Benefits System. In a survey YouGov conducted for the Bevan Foundation in July 2023, while over half of people were aware of free school meals and the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, under 20% were aware of the School Essentials Grant and the help available with health costs. The Welsh Government is running the Claim what’s yours campaign to help people claim Welsh Government support and social security benefits that they are entitled to.
What has the Welsh Government done so far to develop a Welsh Benefits System?
In January 2024, the Welsh Benefits Charter was agreed by the Welsh Government, the Welsh Local Government Association and the 22 local authorities. In her foreword to the Charter, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Jane Hutt MS, said that:
There have been moves towards joining up the Welsh Benefits System in the past, however, these have tended to be fragmented and piecemeal with no strategic lead.
The Charter sets out the Welsh Government’s intention to increase awareness and take-up of Welsh benefits, to develop financially resilient communities, improve outcomes for children and young people from low-income households, and reduce the need for emergency aid such as food banks.
However, delivery is at an early stage. Last week the Welsh Government published a routemap setting out actions it will take to progress phase one of its work in this area by April 2026, although this had originally been expected last September. The routemap aims to ensure “that people can seamlessly claim their entitlement to council tax reduction, free school meals and the school essentials grant in each Welsh local authority by April 2026”. The Welsh Government has allocated an additional £500,000 to support this work, and has focussed on these grants as their eligibility criteria align, and it says there is existing good practice in some local authorities that can be built on.
The Cabinet Secretary has said that “we're working at pace, but we're working at the pace that the local authorities can manage”. However, Dr Victoria Winckler of the Bevan Foundation recently commented that “We welcome the charter as a mechanism for getting the support of the 22 local authorities, but our experience from the various working groups that we participate in is that local authorities are differing in their approach, and the process therefore goes at the speed of the slowest”.
How does the Welsh Government plan to deliver a “coherent and compassionate” system?
In phase one of its work to streamline the Welsh Benefits System, the Welsh Government says it will work with partners to:
- Create a simpler and more consistent system for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, free school meals and the School Essentials Grant by mapping relevant legislation, policy and processes.
- Address barriers to take-up through using more accessible language and understanding how processes for claiming the grants can be adjusted.
- Develop an equity and inclusion action plan to reach marginalised groups, and an approach to reach target audiences and promote the Welsh Benefits System.
- Understand data-sharing requirements and barriers, and producing guidance on these for local authorities.
As a result of this work, the government anticipates that people across Wales will only have to apply and provide supporting information once for the three grants by April 2026.
The Welsh Government has also announced it will allocate £550,000 to support a pilot scheme in which the data analytics company, Policy in Practice, works with at least 11 local authorities to identify and reach out to people who may not be aware of the support they can access. Policy in Practice say this will help address the estimated £2 billion worth of social security and Welsh benefits that people in Wales aren’t claiming each year.
The streamlining Welsh benefits steering group has set up workstreams on a number of areas in relation to the whole Welsh Benefits System. These include data and design; eligibility; monitoring, evaluation and research; strategic communications; and learning and development.
As work progresses, the Welsh Government has said it will update the routemap to include actions for subsequent phases of streamlining the Welsh Benefits System, and will consider lessons learnt from phase one.
What further action is needed to take this work forward?
Policy in Practice has called for the Welsh Government to develop a central application portal for Welsh benefits, along with the development of processes to automate eligibility and applications through existing data. Their report suggests a central portal would “ease access to support for Welsh citizens”, and “is likely to significantly increase take-up of Welsh benefits”.
However, reforming the Welsh Benefits System isn’t the only issue organisations have identified. Eligibility thresholds and the cash value of some Welsh benefits have increased over recent years, for example EMA increased from £30 to £40 per week in April 2023. However, the Bevan Foundation has called for the Welsh Government to ensure that these are reviewed every year to take inflation into account, as have Citizens Advice Cymru. The Bevan Foundation says that without such increases, payments offer “less and less to people with every passing year, undermining their effectiveness as a lifeline”.
What’s next?
The Welsh Government and partner organisations have set out how they intend to start developing a more “coherent and compassionate” Welsh Benefits System. If this works as planned, the Cabinet Secretary believes it will lead to more money coming into people’s pockets, and into local communities. Over the coming months we’ll start to see how this work is progressing, and what impact it could potentially have.
Article by Gareth Thomas, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
