October 20, 2026 - 258 views
The Welsh and Scottish Governments are urging Westminster to take further action on child poverty and the cost of living ahead of the UK Budget.
In a joint letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden and Education Secretary Lucy Powell, ministers have called for the abolition of the benefit cap and bedroom tax, alongside changes to housing benefit rules and measures to reduce energy bills.
They argue that existing welfare policies are contributing to poverty and homelessness, while the gap between housing support and actual rents is leaving more families struggling to meet their costs.
The two governments are also calling for a social tariff to help households with their energy bills, proposing targeted discounts for people who need support most.
Scottish Government modelling suggests such a scheme could reduce estimated energy bills by an average of £700 for around 660,000 households in Scotland. The figures relate to the proposed scheme and are not guaranteed savings for individual households.
The joint intervention follows the signing of the Cardiff Agreement last month, under which Wales and Scotland pledged to work together on issues including child poverty and the cost of living.
Scotland's Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the UK Government needed to do more to support families and help the devolved administrations tackle child poverty.
She said the number of children in Scotland affected by the benefit cap had doubled to almost 20,000 between March and May this year, according to Department for Work and Pensions figures.
Ms Somerville also called for greater powers to be devolved to Scotland and Wales, arguing that the two nations should have more freedom to develop policies suited to their populations.
In Wales, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Equality Sioned Williams said tackling poverty remained a priority for the Welsh Government, which was pursuing measures including expanded funded childcare and a new child poverty strategy with targets.
She also highlighted the proposed Cynnal child payment in Wales, saying cooperation with the UK Government would be needed to ensure families did not lose other benefit entitlements as a result of receiving the additional support.
Ms Williams said the UK Budget presented an opportunity to introduce a social tariff and take action that would make a difference to families across Wales and the wider UK.
The calls come as governments across the UK face pressure to address household costs, with housing affordability, energy bills and the adequacy of welfare support continuing to affect low-income families.
However, many of the measures requested by Wales and Scotland would require decisions by the UK Government, which controls key areas of welfare policy and energy regulation.
The UK Budget will therefore be an important test of whether the proposals receive support, although no commitment to the specific measures has been announced in the material accompanying the joint letter.
