For the last two decades around 30% of children have been growing up in poverty in Wales. Whilst the recent UK Government decision to abolish the two child limit on benefits is likely to reduce child poverty by around 3 to 4 percentage points, huge numbers of families across Wales will continue to struggle to make ends meet. The new Plaid-led Welsh Government faces the challenge of unacceptably high levels of child poverty, and the threat this poses to the wellbeing of current and future generations.

Reducing child poverty and ‘giving every child the best start in life’ is one of the top priorities of the new Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government. During its first 100 days in power, Plaid is starting work on:

· Establishing an expert steering group and childcare taskforce to expand childcare provision

· Developing a new targeted plan to tackle child poverty

· Expanding free school meals to all secondary pupils in households claiming Universal Credit

· Preparing to implement the pilot for Cynnal – the Welsh Child Payment

Building on our previous Review of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Wales and our body of work on poverty stigma, we convened a webinar ahead of the Senedd election to help inform the new Welsh Government’s approach to addressing child poverty. Watch Turning the Tide on Child Poverty webinar.

In line with Plaid’s commitment to basing their approach on ‘the best evidence of what works in poverty reduction’, webinar panelists shared a wide range of evidence-based approaches to preventing, addressing and mitigating the impacts of poverty on children and young people.

Webinar panellists included:

· Steffan Evans, Chief Executive, Bevan Foundation

· Karen Berrell, Co-production and Lived Experience Expert, Poverty Insight Lab

· Helen Barnard, Director of Policy, Research and Impact, Trussell

· Mike Brewer, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Economist. Resolution Foundation

· Amanda Hill-Dixon, Director of Policy and Practice (Public Services), Wales Centre for Public Policy