Building a Fairer Wales

Worryingly, poverty is particularly high for specific groups, including lone parents, households headed by someone who is Black, Asian or from other minority ethnic groups and people who live in a household including working aged adults where someone has a disability.

Poverty in Cymru isn’t inevitable. But tackling it means restructuring our economy, so that it does more to share Cymru’s wealth and protect our planet.

Critical to this is ensuring that globally, and here in Cymru, we move away from crude measures like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary indicator of economic and social progress.

In Cymru, we’ve seen some progress, with the introduction of The Well-being of Future Generations Act in 2015. This law made Cymru the first country in the world to make an explicit commitment in law that future generations will have at least the same quality of life as we do now. The first country to legislate to ensure that the interest of future generations must always be considered in all public policy and across all areas of public service.

With too many people in Cymru still facing the injustice of poverty, we need to see further, faster progress. A better, fairer and greener Cymru won’t build itself, we have to make this happen.

That’s why, with our partners, the Institute of Welsh Affairs, we have laid out a series of policy options for the Welsh Government to explore in our paper, A Wales That Cares for People and Planet.

To combat poverty effectively Cymru needs a united effort across all areas and levels of government, driving towards clear and measurable goals. Today the Welsh Government has no comprehensive anti-poverty strategy. It needs one.

Without a strategy, efforts to reduce poverty will be disjointed and less effective, with different initiatives overlapping or missing critical areas entirely.

A well-crafted strategy ensures that resources are used well and that all parts of the government are working towards the same goals. It provides a clear roadmap for action and sets out measurable targets, so progress can be tracked and accountability maintained.

We’re calling on the Welsh Government to take decisive action and implement a comprehensive anti-poverty plan that makes a real difference in people's lives.

We won’t end poverty alone. That’s why Oxfam Cymru is working together with organisations from across Cymru to push Welsh decision-makers to make choices that value all people, no matter what.

We are members of powerful networks and coalitions, working together we can make change happen.