 Dwi'n gweithio i gael i'r ffaintio eich ffordd. Maen nhw wedi'u gweithio y pethau sydd wedi'u gweithio'r gweithio'r cyfnod. Mae hynny'n gweithio pethau i'r gweithio'r gweithio yn cyflawni'r gwaith yma. Mae'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'n gweithio'r gweithio. Mae'n gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio. Mae Risolwyddon Ffondas yn cael eu gwneud yna ein bod y ddaeth yma y bwrdd yma, fel ymgyrch, a'r byw yw'r gweithio. Rhefnodd BBC o'r cyfnodd yr ysgolwch yn mynd i'ch gweithio'r busgau o'r 15 cyfnodd ymgyrch o'r ysgolwch, a'r bhefyn'r bwysig o'r cyfnodd ymgyrch o'r cyfnodd ymgyrch o'r cyfnodd, mae'n ddeg ar unrhyw o'r cyfnodd ymgyrch o'r cyfnodd ymgyrch o'r cyfnodd. Rhyw ymgyrch o'r cyfnodd yn ymgyrch o'r cyfnodd, ac yn ymddi'r quwrtau yn ei fod yn ymddangos. Mae'n meddwl bod hynny'n meddwl i'r cyfleoedd yn ymddi'r cyffredinol sydd wedi bod nhw'n mynd i'n meddwl. A i ddiwedd yn ymddi, mae'r cyffredinol yn ymddi'r cyffredinol. Yrgychelion nesaf yn gweithio, ymddi'r cyffredinol yn gweithio, ac o'r cyffredinol yn ymddi'r cyffredinol yn 54% yn ymddi'r cyffredinol, dylai'r cyffredinol sydd yn golygu 10,000 ar gyfer hyffredinol o'r cyffredinol. Mae'r ddiwrnod cyffredinol yn gweithio ar gyfer 10000 pthyn o nin gymryd, ac mae eich shares i groesu ar y cyffredinol yn gyffredinol UK i'r cyffredinol, mwy oes o mas i ysgrif ans. A rhoi o'r cyffredinol yn ganweithio mlyneddol i dylun嘍 mynd yn eu haf algunos. Mae'r anhygrif ymddi'r cyffredinol yn gweithio iechyd yn meddwl nyne'n effaith hwnnw. Mae'r gweithio Llywodraeth Cymru yn gweithio'r cyd-drygiadau cyntaf yn ysgrifennu bach yn ddefnyddio. Ond yma'r gwahau yn bach yn gweithio ac ydych chi'n wych yn lleoli'n gweithio'n gweithio. Oed yn rhan oedd y cychwyn cyd-drygiadau sydd wedi gweithlo'n 350 oes ffwrdd, cyfnodwch o'r gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio. We'll be providing a £150 cost of living payment to all households who live in homes in council tax bans A to D. Recipients of our national council tax reduction scheme in all bans will also receive a payment. We estimate that more than a million households will be eligible for this payment. We'll be working with local authorities to finalise the delivery of the scheme so that it's as effective as possible. We'll be providing more detail about how it will operate soon and we'll begin making payments as soon as possible. That scheme comes at a cost of £152 million. We've been able to deliver it without receiving any additional funding as a result of the similar scheme in England, despite the prior assurances that we would receive funding. This was a disappointing decision taken by the UK government but we have not let it get in the way of providing support to people who need it. In fact, through responsible budget management, we've been able to go above and beyond to nearly double the equivalent support available in England. We're providing a further £25 million to local authorities as a discretionary fund. This will support councils to deliver local priorities in addressing the cost of living crisis. And we're allocating a further £156 million in 2022-23 for a number of schemes that will help people with rising bills. We've been able to ensure that our winter fuel support scheme can be extended for a further year to run next winter. It will also be able to reach more households. This means more people will receive the £200 payment which offers crucial support. We're also providing more support for a further year through the Discretionary Assistance Fund, which helps people pay for essential costs including food, fuel and clothing. Towards the start of the pandemic, we introduced additional flexibilities so that people could get more support more often, and these flexibilities will stay in place until March 2023. We're supporting third sector and voluntary organisations, which can be so important in reaching people in communities. And we're investing in our single advice fund so more people receive high quality advice and information about what support is available and how to access it. Our £330 million funding package provides short-simp support and long-term stability. We want to ease pressures now, and we also want to provide reassurance that help will be in place in the longer term. The funding I'm announcing today builds on a number of other sources of support for people who may be struggling. Our council tax reduction scheme helps more than 270,000 households a year with their council tax bills, and around 220,000 households pay nothing at all. More than 67,000 homes have benefited from our warm homes programme, improving home energy efficiency. And our winter fuel support scheme, which we have extended today, remains open in this financial year. Applications must be received by a local authority by 28 February. This year we're working with more than 40 organisations, including local authorities, third sector groups, schools and churches, to tackle food poverty and address food insecurity. Our childcare offer helps people into better paid work. Almost 1 in 10 said they would not be in work if it wasn't for the offer, and 6% said they'd be in a job with a lower pay. And our free school meals programme helps to ease financial stress for families, and we'll be extending free school meals to all primary school pupils as part of our co-operation agreement. All of these schemes and the actions we're taking share one ambition, to make sure that people who need support get support. My colleague, the Minister of Social Justice Jane Hutt, will convene a Wales-wide Cost of Limit Summit this Thursday, with a wide range of social partners and third sector organisations from across Wales. This will facilitate discussion on how we can all unite to proactively address the cost of living crisis that the people of Wales are facing, and to continue to ensure that support is in place. We believe the action that we're taking will make a real difference, but we know that people are still facing challenges. Many of the solutions fall in non-devolved areas, where it is the UK Government's responsibility to provide support. Its influence on people's lives was evident last autumn. People will not have forgotten the cruel decision to remove the £20 per week uplift for universal credit. That came despite warnings from many organisations, including this government, that it would push people towards a financial cliff edge. So we need to see a change of approach from Westminster. We need it to listen, to learn and to step up to help people. A windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas producers could support people through this crisis, and last month we outlined five actions that the UK Government could take to help, including removing the social energy costs on energy bills, to support lower income households by moving them into general taxation, and suppliers having more ability to write off household energy debt. We've made these suggestions in person and in writing, but we still have not yet had a response. But we'll continue to make the case to the UK Government that it needs to change its approach. But while we do this, we look at all of our options to turn over every stone to provide support for people in Wales. The package of support that I've announced today reflects our priority of creating a fairer Wales in which no one is left behind, a compassionate Wales where people are supported. Paying bills, heating homes and putting food on the table shouldn't be so hard. And while there are no easy answers or quick fixes, we will continue to pursue every solution available to us. If you need help or if you know someone who does, please familiarise yourselves with the different types of support. We know that not everyone is claiming everything for which they're entitled. And please come forward for help if you need it. Thank you very much and I will now turn to questions from journalists. First we go to Felicity Evans, BBC Wales. Hi Minister, thank you very much. You've said you want to make sure that the people who need support get it. But the Bevan Foundation this morning has said that perhaps the way you're targeting this support could be better targeted. They suggested perhaps using free school meals as the key to this rather than council tax. What's your response to that? Well I'm really pleased that we've been able to respond to a wide range of the concerns from the Bevan Foundation. I know they've broadly welcomed the support although I do know that they want us to go further in certain areas. There are various things in which we're still having discussions with our partners in our cooperation agreement. So free school meals is one of these areas as you know that we've agreed to work very closely with Plaid Cymru on. I've been really pleased as part of that cooperation agreement to be working towards extending that to all primary school pupils from September and we look forward to making swift progress on that. You'll be aware that Wales was the first country in the UK to extend our free school meals provision through the school holidays and we have provision in place up to the end of these Easter holidays. However discussions as I say are ongoing with our partners in Plaid Cymru and we look forward to making a further announcement on this very soon. Thank you because of course you've got an income crisis here haven't you, an income crisis and what you're using is a property based solution and that's not an exact fit is it? Do you accept that? Well council tax is a combination of property and inhabitant. So in that sense it does recognise that the inhabitants of a property are equally important in respect of how much council tax they pay and it does allow us to identify those individuals and households which might need support which is why in Wales we've determined that our council tax reduction scheme will be used to provide a £150 payment to families who aren't living in those banned A to D properties. So we've sought to ensure that families which are or which may be struggling are absolutely able to access that but equally importantly we've put in place a £25 million discretionary fund for local authorities so that they'll be able to provide funding of the £150 payment or look at other ways of easing the cost of living crisis for families which don't fall within the scheme as it is at the moment. So we are trying to build in the maximum flexibility to our offer to ensure that all of those households which need support are able to access it. Thank you. Okay we move on to Carol Green ITV Wales. Thank you minister. I'm here with John and Vince. We're sat in a cold house and what they want to ask is is your support being spread too thinly that more help should go to those who need it most? We're absolutely seeking to support those people who need their help most so I don't know what John and Vince's situation is at the moment but I really hope that they've already claimed the £200 winter fuel discount which is available in this financial year. It's open at the moment until the 28th of February and of course we'll be extending that for next winter as well and I say this because we know that at the moment only about half of eligible families and households have claimed that £200 payment so if there are people who are struggling to heat their homes it's well worth going on to your local government's website or giving the local council a call to find out if you're able to access that particular payment. We have tried to extend our support to as many households as possible because we know that actually there will be those households which come April will be starting to feel this kind of pinch in a way that they haven't before with the rising cost of energy, with the national insurance contributions which are being increased, changes to income tax, a whole range of things are colliding at the same time which is going to cause problems for families and so we are trying to target the support where it's needed most but recognising that that need is very great. Whilst this support is no doubt welcome for all those reasons you've just outlined those bills coming down the line it's still a drop in the ocean isn't it, there will still be a big shortfall for many families across Wales. I'm not suggesting at all Carol today that we are going to be able to solve the entire cost of living crisis for every family and every household across Wales. What I am promising is that we'll do everything we can within the levers that we have to support families. The package of support I've announced today goes far and beyond that which is available anywhere else in the UK. It's double the support which is available for equivalents in England and we've been able to do that by good budget management through this financial year so we've been able to provide a greater offer but I'm not suggesting that this will solve every problem for everyone. We do know that there are still lots of people not claiming everything to which they're entitled so the additional support that I'm announcing today for the single advice fund is really important so that individuals have access to that expert information and advice which can help ensure that they are claiming everything for which they're entitled but I think what we're offering today will make a difference but those major levers still do lie in the hands of the UK government which is responsible for the welfare and benefit system it has certain levers that it can pull in relation to the energy industry which aren't available to us here in Wales and we've called on them to do that. Reversing the £20 cut on universal credit would be an excellent start and there are also things that they could do in respect of a potential windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies reflecting the fact that they've seen huge profits. Let's share some of that wealth with the people who need it most and who are struggling to pay their bills so there are things that the UK government must do but we're stretching every single that we can to do our bit here in Wales too. Thank you Carol. We'll go to Caitlin Parr, LBC. Thank you Minister. There'll be a lot of families out there in Wales now who may be paying their bills just fine at the moment and maybe don't realise just how much their situation can change when these price changes come in and when these rises come in and they may be moved more towards the fuel poverty line sorry they may become a struggling or vulnerable family. What would your message be to them now that they maybe don't realise the severity of this crisis and it might not just be on their radar yet? You're absolutely right Caitlin that this won't be on the radar for lots of households at the moment and lots of this as I said is going to start colliding in April when many of these factors come together at the same time. What I will say is that there is help available for families. Welsh Government support is there for example through our pupil deprivation support that we put in place for individuals who are feeling extreme poverty and who are really in need of some desperate emergency help. Of course we've got our discretionary assistance fund which as I mentioned in my opening remarks we've increased now the number of times that people can access that and that is urgent cash funding to enable you to pay those immediate costs that you might be facing so that kind of emergency support is there. But I suppose the main message to people who've never found themselves in this kind of situation before is that there's no shame in it, it's not your fault. These things are totally beyond your control, nobody's done anything wrong and it is important that people reach out and accept the help which is there because they're perfectly entitled to it and I want to see everybody coming forward who is able to do so. Brilliant, thank you so much. And why aren't low income pensioners who aren't necessarily on universal credit included in the winter fuel support scheme? Pensioners should be receiving a payment from the UK Government in respect of fuel but as you say at the moment our scheme this year is limited but however we are as I say looking to expand the scheme for next year so we'll be exploring which vulnerable groups there might be which haven't benefited from our scheme this year who we could bring into the scheme for next year and just to reiterate the deadline for this year's scheme is the 28th of February so I would encourage anybody who is eligible to be reached out to local authorities to receive that payment as quickly as possible. Thank you. We go now to Bronwyn Weatherby PA. Good afternoon Minister. The Welsh Government is saying it found the money for the £150 payment out of its own budget. The UK Government obviously is still maintaining that the payment has been made possible by them. Can you explain here in basic terms for people what exactly has happened with the funding? Yes Bronwyn, I would love to and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this afternoon. So every year the devolved Governments receive an indication from Treasury of any changes to the in-year budgetary position that we should be expecting at the UK supplementary estimates which come at the end of February. So on the 26th of January Treasury informed Welsh Government we could expect to receive a further £178 million as a result of spending in England and that was in addition to a £270 million of funding announced back in December in respect of the response to the Omicron variant. So we were told that we could receive or would receive an additional £448 million. Treasury said that we wouldn't be able to take that forward into next year so we should be looking to deploy it quickly at the end of the financial year. Now that's never a good way to manage your budget anyway but in good faith we went about making those preparations. But then at the start of February of course the UK Government announced its council tax rebate scheme and we were told that we would receive £178.5 but that became £180 million as a result of that. But the latest figures now that we were presented with by the UK Government they do show that increase of £180 million in reflection of the consequential funding for the council tax reduction scheme but it's offset by a reduction of £189 million elsewhere because of underspend on the part of the UK Government. So overall our position is actually worse after the UK Government announced its council tax reduction scheme. So I appreciate these things are probably for budget geeks rather than be in particularly of interest but it is important to recognise that the way in which funding flows between the UK Government does mean that it's given on one hand but it can equally be taken away on the other and we need to see the picture in the round. So it's absolutely the case that there was no additional funding in respect of the council tax announcement in England but that said you've seen today that we've been able nonetheless to put together a really important package of support for people. Thank you for explaining that. You've mentioned that there's five things in particular that you'd like to see the UK Government do but if you could choose one thing that they could implement immediately what would that be? I think that restoring the £20 cut to universal credit would be a really important and very, very rapid thing that they could do to support individuals and families across Wales. I think that at the moment we need to be in the area of putting money into people's pockets to help them pay the bills which they're facing. I think that money in people's pockets right now is one of the most important things that the UK Government can be doing and it's certainly what we're trying to do as well. Thank you. Thank you, Bronwyn. Moving to Ryan O'Neill, Wales Online. Thank you, Minister. Given today's announcements, are there any plans to further extend the COVID isolation payment scheme in Wales beyond next month given the rising bills that people can expect this year and particularly from April? We do have the COVID isolation payments in place for the first months of this year and we've been very clear that as long as we're asking people to isolate, then obviously we will be looking to support them in doing that and it's been a really important tool that we've had in terms of being able to support people to self-isolate. Obviously we keep a close eye on the situation and what our Chief Medical Officer advises us, but I wouldn't envisage asking people on low incomes to stay at home and self-isolate and not to provide them with support to do that. Thank you, Minister. UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said people will begin repaying the £200 from next year when it's estimated the prices should have gone down. Does the Welsh Government modelling show the same for people in Wales? This is a big gamble, I think, on the part of the Chancellor just betting on the fact that prices will go down and all the time making sure that every energy bill payer actually is taking on a debt. This is not the way in which Welsh Government's doing things. We're not asking people, I have to be really clear, we're not asking people to repay any of the funding which we're providing through our winter payment support. So the £200 which people are eligible for right now, that doesn't need to be paid back and the £200 which Welsh Government's put in place for next winter, that won't need to be paid back either. It's only the UK Government's £200 which will be needed to pay back. So this kind of buy-now pay-later scheme on the part of the Chancellor is completely, I think, inadequate to the scale of the challenge and they need to be looking at the other ideas which Welsh Government has presented to them to start finding meaningful ways to support people. Thank you, Ryan. On to Tom Magner, Caerys World Live. Thank you very much indeed, Ennis. You referred earlier on and you've been questioned on targeting support. Unpaid Caerys are concerned that it's not the norm for them to be paid support money by their local authority direct. They tell us that it comes working through Caerys organisations and they tell us that's blunting the impact of measures and the effect of money introduced to help them. Will you consider a change of policy to channel funds from local authorities direct to unpaid Caerys more than you are doing now? That's certainly something, Tom, that I would look into and have some discussions with in my role as Minister for Local Government. I'd be interested to have a conversation about that with the local government spokesperson who is responsible for Caerys. But I would also encourage all Caerys to explore whether they and their families and households are eligible for the support which we've announced today, the winter fuel payment support, for example. One of the elements of the £330 million package I've announced today is some additional support for vulnerable families. We are providing £1 million of payments for families with care and support needs, and those would be to cover essential items for those families who are finding themselves in difficult situations. Also, a £1 million support fund for foster Caerys to provide local authorities with a fund to support families who are caring for looked after children who are feeling that financial hardship as a result of the cost of living. So there are some elements which are seeking to specifically support some families who have caring responsibilities. Thank you for that. I'm sure there will be some of our audience at least who are cheered by what you've had to say on that. Can I just press you on another matter to put more fundamentally with your local government hat-on? It's perceived that a lot of the problems associated with unpaid Caerys is because the Welsh Government has failed to implement the social services and wellbeing Wales Act. You've had some six years since it came into force and yet according to the most recent research by Caerys Wales only 7% of the Welsh population know about the rights for unpaid Caerys that it give. Why has the Welsh Government so singularly failed the population? I think that the social services and wellbeing Act is doing a very good job in terms of transforming the care and support available to people in need of social service support by putting the individual at the centre, having those what matters to me conversations so that the package of support can be built around them. But I do acknowledge that we have yet to reach the number of Caerys who we would want to reach in respect, particularly of the Caerys assessments which are available to Caerys. I agree that there's more work for us to be doing to reach out to Caerys to ensure that they are able to access those assessments and any support which comes along with that as well. I know, Tom, you're always interested in whether ministers have Caerys experience of their own and I was an unpaid Caerys for a number of years in my early 20s so I really do understand and appreciate how difficult things are for Caerys and the kind of level of responsibilities that they have on their shoulders and obviously I want to do my best job. I possibly can for Caerys understanding the pressures that they are facing but I will certainly take on board the points that you make and consider with colleagues how we can better reach out to Caerys to encourage them to come forward for those assessments which back in my day weren't even available for Caerys and I can understand the kind of reticence that might be on the part of some Caerys to come forward and we need to ensure that Caerys have the confidence that when they do come forward for support there's no one judging them, whether they're a good Caerys there's no one judging if they can cope or not it's really about ensuring that there is support available for them so yes we need to see what more we can do together to address that. Thank you. Thank you Tom and finally over to William Vincent that's TV South Wales. Thank you Minister and in regards to the £25 million discretionary fund you said this could go to people who aren't entitled to the larger fund for example people who are outside the HD council tax bracket but as it is discretionary how can you be sure that everyone in Wales is being assisted with their bills? So Welsh Government will be providing guidance to local authorities in respect of the £25 million discretionary fund so that they are able to exercise their responsibilities with confidence in terms of ensuring that households which are struggling but fall outside of the council tax reduction scheme or BAM's A2D are still able to access support I know there are various different types of households who would at this point fall outside of support but obviously if they're struggling we want to make sure that they are brought within that support net so as I say we'll be issuing guidance to help local authorities with those decisions. Thank you and you mentioned that these funds may see a continuation of more frequent payments how will you monitor the cost of living crisis to see if further funding is needed? Yes this is a really really important issue so I will be holding back a small amount of funding into the next financial year so that we can monitor the impact of the cost of living crisis and explore if there are other interventions that we need to be taking I think what we've outlined today does give us a longer forward look so it does give that extension to the discretionary assistance fund for the full financial year so that people will be able to access that fund up to five times previously it was three but during Covid it was introduced to five and we're keeping that now for the full financial year giving that kind of certainty to people and also we're giving that certainty that people will be able to access that £200 payment in winter next year while some of the things that we're announcing today are very immediate much of the package does actually take us through the financial year whilst also retaining a small level of flexibility for further interventions should they be necessary. Thank you. Great thank you and thank you for all the questions thank you to everyone for watching and I look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you.