Children in Wales welcomes today’s Welsh Government budget for 2025-26, which promises to deliver benefits for children and young people across Wales.
The budget’s focus on areas such as improving access to education, affordable childcare, and public transport chimes with conversations we’ve had with our members and in our research with young people and their families. Families told us through our child and family poverty survey that childcare costs impacted negatively on their finances, reducing their ability to afford essentials and putting them into debt. One of the provisions in the budget is the expansion of the Childcare offer, which will allocate 30 hours of government funded childcare for 3 and 4 year olds. This will support working families and improve access to early childhood education.
In addition to the expansion of the childcare offer the Welsh Government has invested in the expansion of the Flying Start program, which will mean all children aged 2 years will soon be eligible for quality childcare. This ensures that children from low-income families have access to early education opportunities, helping close the achievement gap from an early age.
Another key element in the budget is the introduction of £1 single fares for young people aged 16-21 years. The findings from our annual child and family poverty survey notes how transport is a real barrier for young people: “It affects young people as it means they are essentially ‘trapped’ in their homes. They can’t engage in things that would increase their quality of life and general wellbeing and they can’t enjoy life and be a child.” (19-25yrs). This investment will help to reduce travel costs, making it easier for young people to access education, training and employment opportunities. Improving transport affordability addresses a key barrier to mobility for young people in Wales.
Hugh Russell, Children in Wales’ Chief Executive stated:
"I’m glad to see some of these priorities areas – childcare, public transport, a boost to the education budget – receive attention in this budget. Boosting funding in some of these budget lines provides a welcome response to some of the issues that have come out clearly in our research as holding children back - unaffordable public transport, for instance, was a key issue in our recently child and family poverty report, which the £1 bus fares initiative will go some way to addressing. We remain concerned about the impact of UK Government’s change to National Insurance calculations and the impact on our members, mitigation for which is not addressed in this budget. The changes here will pile additional costs on organisations, including charities working with our most vulnerable children and young people, and risk undermining some of the good work that this Welsh budget will otherwise enable."