Responding to the Wales Fiscal Analysis report ‘Devolving Welfare: How well would Wales fare?’, the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Heléna Herklots CBE, said:
“I welcome the report published today, which adds further evidence to the case for devolving control over a number of financial entitlements to Wales.
“Taking control of these entitlements would enable the Welsh Government to take a different approach to how entitlements are used to support older people to be financially secure.
“We have already seen the Scottish Government increase the level of support provided through Carers Allowance, and the extra possible funding identified in this report could be used to enhance this as well as other entitlements for older people.
“Fundamentally, the devolution of these powers would enable the Welsh Government to redefine the perception of welfare benefits towards the rights and entitlements that they were originally envisaged to be.
“However, the Welsh Government could also do more now to increase the take-up of these and other entitlements, such as Pension Credit, which are already significantly underclaimed, leading to many older people missing out on thousands of pounds a year that they are entitled to.”
