Poverty is multidimensional, complex, growing and impacting more people in Wales.

Even before the current cost of living crisis, almost one in four people in Wales live in poverty meaning they get less than 60% of the average wage. That is about 700,000 of our fellow citizens. That level of relative poverty has remained unchanged for decades.

Poverty can mean having no money in your pocket, your children going to school hungry, or to bed without enough food. It can mean not being able to afford a winter coat or heat your home, and often living for years without work or hope, cut off from opportunities and change.

The causes of poverty can also be structural, derived and enhanced by the way society and the economy is framed and works which helps create a cycle that make it more difficult for some people to provide for their families and keeps them trapped in hardship. These structures drive disparities in access to transportation, education, childcare, health care, high-quality jobs, and affordable housing.

Some of these consequences – for instance social isolation, exclusion, powerlessness, physical and emotional wellbeing – can extend and perpetuate poverty, making it difficult, if not impossible, for people to escape its impact. And often the way policies and services both within the public and private sector are set and delivered can make the situation far more challenging.