Humanitarian · Poverty & living standards · 21 October 2026
Welsh and Scottish Governments urge UK to scrap welfare policies
The Scottish and Welsh Governments have written to UK ministers urging them to scrap specific welfare policies and adopt measures to cut energy bills. According to Welsh Government, the joint letter calls for the removal of the benefit cap, bedroom tax, and local housing allowance freeze.
The Welsh Government, alongside the Scottish Government, sent a joint letter to UK ministers. The correspondence urges the central government to scrap the benefit cap, the bedroom tax, and the local housing allowance freeze. The two administrations are also pressing for the adoption of a social tariff that involves targeted bill discounts.
Modelling suggests this social tariff would reduce fuel bills for 660,000 Scottish households by an average of £700. Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scotland’s Social Justice Secretary, stated that the number of Scottish children impacted by the benefit cap doubled to nearly 20,000 between March and May this year. She added: "The UK Government must now take action in their Budget to cut bills and boost living standards."
The Scottish and Welsh Governments signed the Cardiff Agreement last month to cooperate on tackling child poverty and the cost of living. Both administrations are calling for further devolution of powers to tackle poverty. The letter serves as a formal request for policy changes ahead of the upcoming UK Budget.
The announcement does not specify a timeline for when the UK Government might respond to these requests or implement the proposed social tariff. It also does not detail how the targeted bill discounts would be administered or which specific criteria households must meet to qualify.
Written by StreetOwl from Welsh Government’s own announcement. It was drafted by StreetOwl’s own model, every figure and quotation was checked by code against the announcement, and it was read and approved by Michael Rossi before it went up. It says what was announced, not what anyone should do about it.
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