Child poverty strategy 'isn't going to cut it', Wales' children's commissioner says

With almost one in three children in Wales living in poverty, the Welsh Government's new strategy to tackle the issue has been labelled as "disappointing" by Wales' Children's Commissioner.

Rocio Cifuentes says the strategy needs to be "more than a list of good actions and intentions".

She told ITV Wales how strong calls were made with other "authoritative organisations" to deliver a clear plan of action, but she feels the document "doesn't seem to have listened."

Ms Cifuentes had hoped to see "clear targets, milestones and measurable outcomes".

But she says this document just "isn't going to cut it".

She said: "There was such a strong chorus of opinions and evidence shared through the consultation process, to have this published as a final document, isn't going to in all of our views, isn't going to cut it.

"It isn't going to be an effective document to enable us to hold the Welsh government to account and to really measure and challenge them on their progress to eradicating poverty which is what the document is meant to be for."

Poverty rates across the UK have increased, close to pre-pandemic levels according to latest figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

There is a slight variation between the regions with 28% of children in Wales living in poverty, 24% in Scotland, and 22% in Northern Ireland. The rate is highest in England at 31%.

Wales' children's commissioner meets children and families every week and she says the stories they share are "heartbreaking."

With "poverty deepening" she says some people "don't have food to put in their lunchbox", and they "don't have enough money to buy new school shoes".

She says they "stuff paper in their shoes on a wet day".

Ms Cifuentes says the Welsh government strategy "doesn't show how clearly it is going to track its own progress".

She added: "You know there is a list of commendable actions and policy initiatives, contained within that strategy but so many authoritative voices have said that a really effective child poverty strategy needs to be much more than a 'list of good actions and intentions'.

"And it isn't at the moment."She issued a statement on Tuesday (23 January) in collaboration with 14 other national leading children and poverty expert organisations.

She says the Welsh government often says they "don't hold all the levers to reduce and eradicate child poverty."

Ms Cifuentes continued: "While that is true to an extent. They don't control welfare benefits, they don't control taxation.

"They do control many significant areas of public life in Wales including education, health, housing and many others.

"So there is a significant amount that they could and should do and they are doing a lot but the strategy doesn't effectively set that out.

"What goals it wants to achieve and by when. I think anyone serious about that goal, sets themselves, targets and milestones, so they can track whether they are making progress towards that or whether they are going in the wrong direction.

"I think it is that lack of milestones and targets which is ultimately undermining the whole accountability of the whole document and that's the problem."

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