People turning to emergency help due to welfare changes, Minister warns

The Welsh Government’s deep concerns about the impact of welfare changes such as the ‘bedroom tax’ on Wales were raised in Whitehall this week when Communities & Tackling Poverty Minister Huw Lewis met one of the Tory architects of the reforms.

He met the UK Government’s Welfare reform Minister, Lord Freud, in London to express his worries about how the changes to benefits will hit the most vulnerable in society and affect the Welsh economy.

Figures show that the number of families turning to emergency financial help to pay for their housing has rocketed in some Welsh local authorities. Families struggling to pay their rent can approach their local council to apply for discretionary housing payments.

The ‘bedroom tax’ alone will see 40,000 families worse off and more people than ever before are applying for emergency help to pay the rent. Some estimates suggest that the wider welfare changes will take £1 billion out of the Welsh economy and it is the most vulnerable in our society who will feel the squeeze.