Plaid Cymru wants to give every child the best start in life, and we refuse to accept that 1 in 3 of our children should be condemned to living in poverty.
Growing up in poverty affects everything from a child’s health to their educational attainment and future work prospects. And through increased pressures on our NHS and higher lifetime demands on the welfare state, this has a material impact on all of us.
Breaking the cycle of poverty is therefore not only the right thing to do, it is also the sensible thing to do.
That is why we will deliver a new, targeted and radical plan to address child poverty.
Our new childcare offer will boost household incomes and help lift families out of poverty, and we will build on our role in delivering free school meals for all primary school pupils by expanding access in secondary schools.
Learning from the evidence on what really works when it comes to tackling child poverty, we will introduce Cynnal – the Welsh Child Payment. We will pilot a £10 weekly payment to up to 15,000 children aged 0-6 in low-income households, and build the case for devolving the powers we need to roll the payment out in full, Wales-wide.