Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 20 October 2021.
Diolch yn fawr, Rhys ab Owen, and you gave a very clear example—a human example—of great concern of the adverse impact already experienced by your constituent in terms of that cut of the £20 universal credit. And it is quite clear that we have to play our part to ensure that we can support those families. The UK Government may have abandoned these families, but the Welsh Government will not. So, it is the support that we give through our discretionary assistance fund, which is one route to helping these families that will face, as we know—and as we discussed in the Equality and Social Justice Committee this morning—a harsh winter to get the financial help they need to heat their homes and feed their children. And so, it is important that I am able to, as I have announced and as we discussed this morning, extend the flexibilities and extend the discretionary assistance fund through until March and then consider—as we move through this, and indeed the pandemic, as well as the cuts from UK Government—what impact that has in terms of taking the discretionary assistance fund forward.