Scottish and Welsh Governments write to UK ministers ahead of
Budget
The Scottish and Welsh Governments have called on the UK
Government to scrap punitive welfare policies, adopt plans to cut
energy bills, and to further devolve powers to help drive
continued progress in tackling poverty.
In a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
and Education Secretary , Scotland's Social Justice
Secretary and the Welsh Deputy First Minister have urged the UK
Government to scrap the benefit cap, bedroom tax and the freeze
to local housing allowance which is widening the gap between
housing benefits and real-world rent, driving homelessness and
poverty.
The calls extend to pressing the UK Government to adopt Scottish
Government proposals for a social tariff in the form of targeted
bill discounts, with published modelling showing that 660,000
households in Scotland would see their estimated fuel bills go
down by an average of £700.
The Scottish and Welsh Government signed the Cardiff Agreement
last month, pledging to work together on areas including tackling
child poverty and the cost of living.
Scotland's Social Justice Secretary said:
Scotland and Wales are clear - we need to see far more from the
UK Government to support people with the cost of living, and to
support us in our efforts to end child poverty.
Scotland is one of the most energy rich nations in the world but
we pay some of the highest bills in Europe, already hundreds of
pounds higher than was promised when the UK Government came to
office. It is causing real hardship across the country and is a
key driver of poverty.
The Scottish and Welsh Governments are also clear that we need
more action from the UK Budget to support our work on child
poverty that includes ending the cruel benefit cap which is
punishing children for circumstances beyond their control. This
has never been more pressing, with DWP's own data showing that
the number of Scottish children impacted doubled to nearly 20,000
between March and May this year.
Our game-changing Scottish Child Payment shows the innovative and
ambitious policies we can implement where we have the
power. It shows why we need more powers in Scotland and
Wales, rather than seeing them hoarded by the UK Government.
The UK Government must now take action in their Budget to cut
bills and boost living standards. And if they will not,
they should hand the powers over to a Scottish Government that
would.
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and
Equality Sioned said:
We all share the belief that no child's life should be limited by
poverty. Tackling poverty is a priority for this Welsh
Government, and we are addressing it in a number of ways
including expanded funded childcare, and delivering a new child
poverty strategy with meaningful targets. While we are taking
firm action wherever we can, we need the UK Government to play
its part and our joint letter with the Scottish Government calls
for a clear set of actions to support us in tackling child
poverty. This is not only about those levers which remain with
the UK Government but also about supporting us to effectively use
our own powers.
An example of this is the Cynnal child payment in Wales. This can
only succeed with the co-operation of the UK Government to ensure
that those receiving the payment are not penalised by having
their entitlement to other benefits reduced, allowing children
and families to receive the maximum possible support. I call on
the UK Government now to work with us and give us the assurance
that we can make a real difference with this scheme.
Introducing a social tariff is also key, and I join colleagues
across in UK in calling for this to be introduced urgently. In
many areas such as this it is the UK Government who can make the
difference and the budget is the opportunity to do this for
families in Wales and across the UK.
Background
Tackling poverty: joint
letter to UK Government Ministers
Scottish Government analysis of DWP Benefit Cap statistics on
stats-xplore
Benefit cap: number of
households capped to May 2026 - GOV.UK
Scenario modelling on
social energy tariff proposal
Cardiff Agreement
