A LABOUR MP has said that Wales should look to Scotland for inspiration in cutting child poverty numbers.
Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr MP Steve Witherden praised research by the Bevan Foundation which found that creating a “Welsh Child Payment”, based on the Scottish benefit, would be the “most powerful and effective” way of cutting child poverty.
The backbencher said that the evidence for “putting money into people’s pockets” as a way to tackle poverty was “overwhelming”.
Asked whether he believed that the Welsh Government should have the ability to set its own welfare policies, Witherden said he was “supportive of devo max”, adding: “I think it’s about having the autonomy to choose, isn’t it? If you have devo max, you do have more power to decide.”
It is understood the UK Government has no plans to devolve social security to the Welsh Government.
He added: “I don’t think anyone in Scotland would claim that it was some kind of utopia in this regard, child poverty exists there as it does everywhere in the UK, sadly.
“At the moment the Scottish percentages do look more favourable than the England and Wales combined percentages on child poverty.”
Witherden highlighted research which looked at the potential impact of Wales copying the Scottish Child Payment, saying: “There’s lots of evidence for this – putting money in people’s pockets, for lack of a more technical term – how helpful it is.
“There’s sound research on this outside of the UK, USAID, UK development aid, it’s found that when you can directly get the cash to people on the ground, it does alleviate poverty, it does make a difference.
“There’s sound research backing that up, I know it has its critics, I’m not one of them, I follow the evidence and the evidence is quite overwhelming.”
The MP, first elected to Parliament last year, also called on the UK Government to publish an interim update on the work of its child poverty taskforce.
He said: “I’d like to hear some feedback on the findings thus far.”
The taskforce was supposed to publish its findings this spring but the Government has delayed this, confirming in May that it was committed to publishing “later this year”.
It would look at a range of measures to bring down child poverty, including scrapping the two-child cap.
The Scottish Child Payment was announced by the SNP in 2019 and the first payments were made two years later.
It is paid to families who are in receipt of Universal Credit or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance. Parents get £27.15 per week for each child they have under the age of 16.
The Scottish Child Payment has been described as a “game changer” by the Child Poverty Action Group.
Official statistics have found that there were projected to be 90,000 fewer Scottish children expected to live in poverty by 2024 because of the policy and other measures.
The Bevan Foundation’s report from June this year said: “Among all the interventions modelled, the introduction of a Welsh Child Payment emerges as the most powerful and effective.
“Based on the Scottish Child Payment, this intervention would provide support for each child in low-income families, with no deductions from existing benefits. It reaches nearly one-third of households that are in poverty within the data and reduces child poverty across the sample by almost 23%.”
The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru have also backed calls for a Welsh Child Payment, saying it had “proved transformational in Scotland”.
A UK Government spokesperson said: "We are determined to bring down child poverty.
“We’ve announced a new £1 billion package to reform crisis support. This comes alongside the expansion to free breakfast clubs, increasing the national minimum wage and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
“We will publish an ambitious child poverty strategy later this year to ensure we deliver fully-funded measures that tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty across the country.”
A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: "We recognise that these are challenging times for many children, families and communities in Wales. We’re determined to do all we can to prevent people from going into poverty and helping those who need support the most. Our commitment is backed by substantial investment of nearly £7bn between 2022-2026 to reduce costs and maximise incomes for Welsh families.
“Our child poverty strategy sets out how we will use the levers we have to deliver against our ambitious objectives to support families most in need. We will continue to call for positive changes in social security policy to tackle child poverty, particularly seeking a commitment to end the two-child benefit rule."
