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£330m to help people in Wales tackle cost-of-living crisis
The Welsh Government has announced a package of expanded measures to help people with the cost-of-living crisis, including an extra £200 for low income households through the Winter Fuel Payment next winter.
The funding package is significantly larger than equivalent support provided by the UK Government in England.
Rebecca Evans, Welsh Minister for Finance and Local Government, said the support reflects the Welsh Government’s priority of ‘creating a fairer Wales in which no-one is left behind’.
As part of the measures, a £150 cost-of-living payment will be provided to all households who live in properties in council tax bands A-D, as well as recipients of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme in all bands. The Welsh Government will be working with local authorities to provide more detail about how the scheme will operate and will begin making payments as soon as possible.
In addition to this £152m programme, a further £25 million will be provided as a discretionary fund for local authorities, allowing councils to use their local knowledge to help households who may be struggling.
In the next financial year, more than £100 million will be provided to strengthen other schemes that help people meet the rising costs of living. More money will be provided through the Discretionary Assistance Fund and through the Winter Fuel Support Scheme, which will deliver an additional £200 later this year to hundreds of thousands of low income households.
Evans said: People are facing very real cost-of-living crisis and urgent, meaningful action is required. The Chancellor’s offer at the start of the month fell short of what people needed. We have been able to go above and beyond to provide Welsh households with more help in paying bills, heating homes and putting food on the table. In total we are nearly doubling the equivalent support provided by the UK government for those who need it the most, reflecting our priority of creating a fairer Wales in which no-one is left behind.”
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