UK Government welfare cuts could cost every working age adult in Caerphilly County Borough £541 a year, the Welsh Government has claimed.
The figure is based on research commissioned by the Welsh Government to examine the wider economic impact of welfare reform.
Wales will see a total loss of income of around £930 million by 2015/16 with 14 wider knock-on impacts on the economy as people have less to spend in their local communities.
Jeff Cuthbert, Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister and Caerphilly AM, said: “Communities across Wales are being hit hard by the changes to welfare.
“Our latest research shows how decisions being made in Westminster will have a real difference on the money in the pocket of many families with a knock-on effect on their quality of life. The amounts we are talking about here will make a huge difference to the lives of some.
“Some of these cuts are hurting low-income families at the very time they are seeing their incomes squeezed and are struggling to cover their everyday costs.
“The reality is we are going to see many get worse off and the wider economy of many communities will also suffer as people have less money to spend on local services and local shops.”
Caerphilly County Borough is one of 12 local authority areas in the UK selected as a pilot for the introduction of the UK Government’s Universal Credit scheme.
Universal Credit combines tax credits and benefits in one programme and is intended to make the benefits system less complicated.
Critics have said it relies too heavily on claimants being able to access the internet.
Wales Office Minister Stephen Crabb visited Bargoed on February 13 to find out how the Universal Credit pilot was working.
He said: “Welfare reform is key to unlocking the potential of those communities in Wales currently blighted by worklessness and poverty. The changes are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore incentives to work while ensuring that a strong welfare system can continue to provide protection to those in need.”
But Caerphilly MP Wayne David criticised Mr Crabb’s visit and said: “Reform of welfare is vital, but it must be done fairly. The ‘Bedroom Tax’ is one of the most unfair reforms the Government has introduced and the roll-out of Universal Credit is a disaster. Universal Credit is supposed to be the flagship welfare reform, but its introduction is shambolic. There is a particular concern in the Valleys because many people do not have access to the internet and applications for benefit have to be done online.
“Labour is firmly of the view that ‘work must pay’, but this government is pushing people into poorly paid and part-time employment, so that many people in work still rely on benefits because of their low income.”
A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: “Our welfare reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities, with Universal Credit making three million households better off, including 200,000 households in Wales who will be better off by an average of £163 per month.
“The UK Government has taken action to cut the cost of living; freezing fuel duty and increasing the tax-free personal allowance to £10,000, which will save a typical taxpayer over £700.”
Caerphilly's elected members have it spot on. Well said.
Whilst it is very difficult, if not impossible, to disagree with the comments of Jeff Cuthbert AM and Wayne David MP in respect to the effects of the Tory Lib Dem coalition Government cuts and austerity measures are having on each household in the Caerphilly County Borough Area,( I suppose they are based on reliable statistics?.)we should not forget the pocket picking measures of every household in Caerphilly Borough taken by Consecutive administrations of the Council, both Plaid Cymru and Labour over the past few years.
It is far too easy to forget that Caerphilly Council Councillors vote year on year to increase various charges to the citizens of the borough, increasing charges for this or that service,and increasing the Council Tax in the process, and having a devastating effect on household budgets.
Councillors in Caerphilly are far too keen to increase costs rather than cut away the `fat`, they consistently look for way to avoid `cuts` by increasing income, where does that increase in income from,??? the pockets of every household in the borough of course.
Our Labour leaders should NOT forget that Caerphilly Borough Councillors, year on year, look for innovative ways to pick the pockets of each household in the borough and therefore heap further misery on its citizens by adding to the Tory and Lib Dem`s thieving policies. Kettle, Black, calling, teapot,???????.
Let hear from the Leaders of Caerphilly Council in justifying an increase in Council Tax this year, increases to various charges to the public for using Council services, and, their abject failure to make any meaningful `CUTS` to Council `FAT`.BEFORE imposing increased charges on households.
Let`a also be told what the Council`s `plan` is to recover the hundreds of thousands of pounds paid out unlawfully to various senior officers and which were trousered by them without any consideration for the boroughs citizens household budgets, at least, there is no evidence they considered this impact because they did not even have the decency to record their considerations at their secret conclave when they awarded themselves huge pay rises, and, took other money belonging to us.