1. Female benefit claimants in Wales and their families will face significant disruption due to welfare reforms being implemented, especially with the rollout of Universal Credit. 2. Wales has a higher percentage of ESA and disability benefit claimants, making it more vulnerable to the negative effects of reforms. Women, especially those in difficult circumstances, are most at risk of being severely impacted. 3. Changes to Income Support will primarily affect women, with almost 30,000 lone mothers at risk of losing support since their youngest child will be over age 5.

1. Adele Baumgardt
Co-chair
Women’s Equality Network Wales

2. Women in Wales and Welfare Reform
Welsh women are:
• More dependent on the public sector for
employment than elsewhere in the UK
• Have less access to childcare
• Have more extreme rural isolation issues and
lack of public transport

3. The context
• Legacy of demise of industry in poorest areas
• Inflexible economy ill suited to women’s
employment needs
• Universal credit underpinned by ‘household’
principles

4. Welfare changes
• Employment support allowance
– 5/10 highest claimant constituencies of ESA in
Wales
– 50% current claimants women
• Disability Living Allowance and PIP
– Higher than average claimants in Wales
– Over 50% claimants women

5. Welfare changes
• Housing benefit
– Over 50% claimants in Wales women
– Women headed households
• Income support
– 97% of all of those who claim IS on the grounds of
being a lone parent in Wales = 29,740 women at
risk of the withdrawal of this support if their
youngest child is over the age of 5 years.

6. summary
1. Female benefit claimants in Wales and their families will face
significant disruption owing to reforms currently underway, and this is
likely to intensify as the number and pace of changes increases with
the implementation of the UC.
2. Wales’s higher percentage of ESA and disability benefit claimants
renders it intrinsically more vulnerable to the negative effects of
these reforms and, as a result of this, women in the most difficult
circumstances risk being impacted most severely.
3. Changes to Income Support will primarily affect women, with lone
mothers hardest hit. Almost 30,000 stand to lose Income Support
because their youngest child is over five years old.
4. It is not the movement of lone parents off Income Support and on to
job seeker's benefits which is an intrinsic concern. If sufficient
provisions were made with regard to sanctions, and allowances were
made regarding the specific financial pressures that lone parents
face, this would be less problematic.
Changes to ESA will affect women both directly - through the potential loss
of benefits for more than 8,600 women, or indirectly as the partners of
claimants who may face incentives to reduce working

7. Women and WEN Wales
• Working to help advise Welsh Government on
what they can do and how to mitigate these
effects
• Linking women in Wales directly to Welsh
Government, UK government and policy making
• Working with women across Wales to explore
their issues and feedback to political and policy
makers
• Women know change is coming but not what and
how it will effect them

8. What is already happening
• Welsh government research and strategies
• Advice services review
• Campaigns like ‘your benefits are changing’
http://www.yourbenefitsarechanging.co.uk/
• Cuts watch Cymru
http://cutswatchcymru.wordpress.com/

9. What more needs to be done
• Gender Equality Impact Assessments on
budgets, economic strategies, employment
strategies, public transport etc.
• Make the business case for women’s
employment, education, childcare etc.
• Support women’s self employment
• Increase (mandatory!) women’s
representation in decision making

10. Join Women’s Equality Network Wales
wenwales.org
admin@wenwales.org
adele@adelebaumgardt.co.uk
07533558647