As we know, the Family Fund offers about £500 a year to low-income families who most need help. The fact that this money can be used so flexibly is key. One charity manager told me that this is the only source she can turn to now for a number of issues, including, for example, money to support families to have short holidays, which they deserve—weekend breaks that are so beneficial, but that they would never be able to afford without this fund. Because the fund depends on the income level of the family, that means that only the families who most need help to have a holiday receive support. Therefore, cutting the direct grants means that some of the most vulnerable families in Wales will suffer.

I want to talk about three families I know of, and how they have benefited directly from the fund. A family of four—mum, dad and two children, two and three years old—and the oldest child has severe disabilities that mean regular trips—weekly, sometimes daily—to the hospital. It means staying at the hospital, far away from home, on a regular basis. The parents’ care for that child is exceptional. The mother is in her 20s, and both have given up work in order to care for the child. It would be very difficult for them to work, particularly as the youngest also needs care. By the way, the community’s care for this family is inspiring. The community has raised money to buy bespoke play equipment for the village playground. The child joins in with his peers in the village despite the disability.

They use the money they obtain from the fund to help them pay travel costs to the hospital. They need to visit Ysbyty Gwynedd often, 15 miles away. They also need to visit Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool regularly—a journey of nearly two hours there and two hours back along the A55, which often means that the journey takes three to four hours. They have to use the car, because that’s been adapted especially for the child. They would never get there in time by using public transport. They need to pay a toll of £1.70 for every journey on top of the travel costs, and that’s aside from food, accommodation costs and so forth. It is possible to apply for some travel funding from the health board or the hospital, but only after payment. Every receipt must be kept carefully, and that’s the last thing on the mind of anyone in such difficult circumstances.

The second family has an autistic child. They have benefited from the fund in a different way: they have had funding to buy a large freezer, which means that they can buy large quantities of food at the same time and freeze it. Shopping with an autistic child is not always an easy task. They live in a rural area and they therefore save on petrol costs by making fewer trips. The nearest store is six miles away. It is from the Family Fund that they got the money to pay for the freezer. It would have taken years for this family to save up to buy it.

The third family includes a deaf child. This family also lives in a rural area. The child has a hearing aid and needs to be monitored regularly at Ysbyty Gwynedd, which entails an hour-long journey from home both ways. Petrol costs mean that the family sometimes decide not to attend the appointments—they skip them—and of course, if that happens three times in succession, the child can drop off the radar of the hospital services, and that can lead to significant problems down the line.

In accordance with the spirit of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, we must acknowledge the preventative value of the fund. With this family, from prioritising other things above the petrol costs to attend hospital appointments, problems can arise with the hearing aid; problems with communication and education can arise; the child falls behind at school, and needs extra support, and then significant costs start to develop. A problem that could be resolved simply by offering a small pot of money for travel then develops into a major expensive problem, and of course the child suffers in all of this.

As we’ve heard, children and families in England can access a similar fund for three more years. In Wales, the fund could support 5,429 families—similar families to those that I’ve described. This year, 1,500 will receive support, and next year, the estimate is that 875 families alone will receive support. There are 4,000 families like the ones I’ve talked about today—some of our most vulnerable families—that will be worse off.