Asset-Based Welfare and Child Poverty: Next steps for the Welsh Assembly

Article

The Welsh Assembly Government has made asset-based welfare a key part of its long-term efforts to tackle child poverty. It has established a 'Child Trust Fund Cymru' that will place a Welsh premium in the Child Trust Funds (CTFs) of all eligible children in Wales.

In this paper we examine the Welsh Assembly Government's initiative in the context of developments in child poverty and asset-based welfare policies. We restate the case for an asset-based approach to welfare and consider what the Welsh Assembly Government might want to do next.

The paper calls for specific measures designed to increase the number of parents opening CTFs, to ensure a high rate of uptake for CTF Cymru and to encourage more parents with low incomes to place additional funds in their children's CTFs.

Related items

  1. Towards universal opportunity for young people

    Outlining a vision for young people which could increase social mobility while also reducing inequality and disadvantage, so that every young person has the opportunity to build a decent life.

  2. One year in: the government is making decent down payments for the years ahead

    It’s fair to say it hasn’t been a straightforward first year for the government. 

  3. Britons back local leaders with fiscal firepower

    “Death and taxes,” they say, are life’s only certainties. But there’s a third - wherever taxes are controlled, power lies.