Diolch, Llywydd. Today’s Plaid Cymru debate addresses one of the main social issues of our time. It’s now beyond doubt that the roll-out of universal credit is causing increased hardship, and the fact that universal credit has been accompanied by drastic welfare cuts has made the inherent problems in the scheme even worse. Citizens Advice has established that universal credit recipients are more likely to be in arrears on rent, council tax and water bills. Debt, evictions and food bank usage have all increased for some recipients in the pilot schemes. We know that homelessness is up already, yet, down the line, this will mean greater risk of homelessness again, as well as increased costs for the NHS, local government and social services.

Now, the greatest lie behind universal credit, and the greatest injustice, is the idea that this is somehow all about incentivising work. Using the social security system to get people into work is a laudable aim that very few people would disagree with. But the way to achieve this is by making work pay more than the benefits, not by penalising people and forcing them into low-paid or insecure jobs, or by using sanctions. In fact, the DWP’s own impact assessment of universal credit suggests that 2.1 million recipients will see their deduction rates increase. This means it’s not true to say that universal credit makes work pay; quite the opposite for 2.1 million hard-working people.

This means that the new system is, in fact, removing financial work incentives that existed under the previous system for a significant number of people. To add insult to injury, universal credit embeds the culture of sanctions and extends that culture to part-time workers, as if part-time workers are now what the Tories would call scroungers.

The rate of sanctions is higher than the previous system and can be applied to people who are in paid work. If the UK Government insists on pressing ahead with universal credit, there is a model already existing within the UK for Wales to be able to modify and mitigate its worst effects. Devolving administrative control of welfare would allow Welsh Government to alter the frequency of payments, end the culture of sanctions and long waits, and ensure that payments could go to individuals instead of to households. The model for this, of course, is in Scotland, where the first use of devolved powers by the Scottish Government was to change the frequency of payments from monthly to fortnightly following feedback. They also enabled the housing components to be paid directly to landlords. The new laws in Scotland also place a duty on Ministers to give assistance to people entitled. This means that actions can now be taken behind the scenes to tackle that culture of sanctions.

In Northern Ireland, similar measures to mitigate universal credit have already been agreed and will be implemented upon the resumption of power sharing.

A wider devolved social security agenda has also been made possible by this level of devolution, including extensive policies to mitigate the effects of Westminster’s welfare cuts and the establishment of a social security agency. The devolution of those aspects of social security is supported not just by the SNP, but on a cross-party basis, which includes the Labour Party in Scotland. We need such a consensus here in Wales, here in this Assembly. Unfortunately, it appears that the Government don’t agree. Where is their anti-poverty strategy? What are they doing to mitigate these cruel welfare reforms? If the national health service can be operated by the different nations, then there’s no reason why other aspects of the post-war welfare state can’t be as well. We must put devolution of welfare on the agenda. It makes no sense to keep having a go at the Tories on this when we could be doing things differently here in Wales. As AMs, we risk being just commentators on this—