Poverty in Wales is the "single major challenge"

Poverty in Wales is the "single major challenge", an official report has warned.

Figure suggest more than a third of children in Wales are now classes as living in poverty, more than anywhere else in the UK. 

The Audit Office has called for renewed focus across every tier of government in Wales to address the issue. 

It includes a key recommendation for new national strayegy and targets to tackle poverty. 

The 50-page investiagtion by the auditor general for Wales said it recognised that dealing with poverty remains a priority for Welsh government and local councils. 

Karen McFarlane, Policy Officer for Poverty and author of Children in Wales' 6th Annual Child & Family Poverty Survey Findings Report said: 

“Around 34% of children and young people in Wales now live in poverty.  The impacts of poverty can be far reaching and touch every aspect of children’s lives.  Right now, as you are reading this, many families in Wales are having to make the decision to either feed their children or use electricity. It is therefore not surprising that the findings show increasing debt, food and fuel poverty and a dramatic increase in poor emotional health, not only of parents, but children and young people themselves”.

It means that 34% of children in Wales are living in a home where the income available to that household is less than 60% of the UK average - which is how relative income poverty is defined by officials in Wales.

Those classed as falling into "in-work poverty" - where working families no longer have enough income to meet household bills - rose by 18% in Wales in 2021.