Proposal 021 - Sioned Williams MS

Published 20/09/2021   |   Last Updated 20/09/2021   |   Reading Time minutes

The following is a proposal for a Member Bill tabled during the Sixth Senedd:

Proposing Member:

Sioned Williams MS

Title of the proposed Bill:

Take-up of Benefits (Wales) Bill

Policy Objectives of the proposed Bill:

The Bill will place a duty on all public sector organisations to maximise take-up of Welsh and local authority benefits.

Supporting information

At present, Welsh families have to submit multiple applications to multiple public sector bodies to get all the support they are entitled to. Some Welsh local authorities have developed innovative approaches to passport families that receive one benefit on to a number of others, but this approach is not common across Wales.

The Welsh Government has undertaken some work to promote best practice but this stops short of requiring public bodies to operate in such a way. Making it a legal duty for public bodies to maximise take up would change this and could ensure that more money ends up in families' pockets.

This would be a relatively cheap policy to implement and therefore could get cross party support, but would also make a difference to the lives of thousands of families across Wales. The Bevan Foundation has called for this to happen as a first step towards creating a Welsh Benefits System and are willing to provide support with the idea’s development.