People facing hardship in Wales to get emergency food and poverty support

• Nearly £5 million invested in local authorities across Wales to tackle poverty
• Funding will support emergency food aid and long-term poverty prevention
• Extra money allocated to rural areas facing distinct challenges

The £4.8 million investment will fund emergency food aid for people in crisis, alongside support to prevent poverty.

Local authorities can use the funding to strengthen community-based support networks like lunch clubs, social supermarkets and community cafes. They can also give direct grants to food banks facing increased demand.

The funding will also help tackle the root causes of poverty, enabling organisations to strengthen cost of living advice to families, helping people build lasting resilience, not just cope in a crisis.

Capital funding will help organisations buy fridges, freezers and cooking equipment, so they can store and distribute more food, including surplus supplies that would otherwise go to waste.

Additional money will also go to rural local authorities, recognising the added challenges of delivering support in rural areas.

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality, Sioned Williams said:

Nobody in Wales should have to go without food or struggle to make ends meet. This funding will help local authorities respond quickly to people in crisis right now, while also building the long-term support that helps families avoid hardship in future.

We know the cost of living continues to put pressure on households across the country, and that's why we're targeting support where it's needed most. We want every part of Wales to have the resources they need to support people through difficult times and build lasting resilience for the future.

Previous funding has helped projects like Down to Zero support people experiencing food poverty in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT).

Down to Zero provide affordable, locally grown and pesticide-free produce straight to people's doorsteps in RCT, delivering over 230 boxes of fresh, low-cost vegetables in RCT last year.

One of the site managers at Down to Zero, Llantrisant, Kevin Edwards said:

As the Llysiau lead at Down to Zero, my role is to help with the general running of the site, and to run the Llysh bocs deliveries. At the moment I am delivering vegetable boxes to 40 families through RCT.

The scheme is to help families who are struggling with food poverty with deliveries every three days. It's heartbreaking to hear that families are struggling to feed their children, so I'm really proud to be involved in a scheme that is trying to reduce food poverty.

The funding forms part of a wider package of the Welsh Government's cost of living support, which helps households manage financial pressures, maximise their incomes and reduce everyday costs.

Support includes; the Single Advice Fund, the Discretionary Assistance Fund, the Warm Homes Programme, fuel bank vouchers, free school meals and the Bwyd a Hwyl Food and Fun school holiday food and enrichment provision.