Poverty denying 'decent childhood' in Wales, says commissioner

Too many children in Wales are being denied a decent childhood because of the "crippling effects" of poverty, the new children's commissioner has said.

Sally Holland and three other UK commissioners have studied governments' records on children's rights in a report for the United Nations.

She said it was "deeply disappointing" having to report that Wales had the highest levels of poverty in the UK.

The Welsh government said it was investing £323m in anti-poverty work.

Ms Holland and the commissioners for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland said in the report they were alarmed at how welfare changes had increased child poverty.

Figures released last week found one-third of children are living in poverty in Wales

They said under current policies figures were expected to rise, with 4.7 million children projected to be living in poverty by 2020.

Reporting on the situation in Wales, Ms Holland said: "It is deeply disappointing that I have to present a report to the UN which shows Wales having the highest rate of child poverty in the UK.

"Although the Welsh government has a clear anti-poverty strategy with some promising programmes for children, including Flying Start and Families First, these have so far failed to make an impact on overall rates of poverty.

"This may be related to the problems of scale and that these programmes do not reach enough children in Wales."

Recommendations

She said about 200,000 children in Wales lived in poverty, adding: "I remain convinced that the Welsh government and local government have some levers to change things.

"The approach taken by the Welsh government places a central emphasis on securing employment as a route out of poverty but there is also an urgent need to address in-work poverty.

"Many families are struggling with a combination of low wages and high childcare, housing and heating costs. Wales now has more low-income working families living in poverty than there are non-working ones."

The UK-wide report identifies areas of common concern including the state of mental health services, child sexual abuse, children in the justice system, the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and repealing the Human Rights Act.

The commissioners make 70 recommendations on tackling the issues.

The Welsh government says it is focusing 'relentlessly' on tackling the root causes of poverty

Figures released last week showed a third of children in Wales lived in poverty - households where the income is below 60% of the UK average of £453 a week.

The charity Barnardo's welcomed the report, and said millions of children were being failed.

Responding to the children's commissioners' report, the Welsh government said: "We are in agreement with the Children's Commissioners that the UK government's welfare reforms and austerity measures have had a hugely detrimental impact on the lives of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

"This is why we are investing over £323m in our tackling poverty programmes this year alone, while all our government departments continue to work together to focus more relentlessly on the root causes of poverty."