Cardiff Capital Region Launches First Children’s Well-being Strategy 2026

Key Points

• Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) has unveiled its first ever Children’s Well-being Strategy, entitled Growing Up Well in Cardiff Capital Region: A Children’s Well-being Strategy — Fairer Starts, Stronger Futures.
• The strategy is a five-year strategy, and it has made child poverty a mainstream consideration in the investment and programming of CCR.
• According to the strategy, about 84,000 children —one-third of children in South East Wales—are living in relative poverty after housing costs.
• 32% of children in South East Wales were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2023-24, an increase from 29.5% in 2014-15.
• Three priorities have been outlined by the strategy: Good Work and Good Pay; Access to Opportunity; and Conditions for Shared Prosperity.
• A “child poverty lens” will be used by CCR in the discharge of its statutory duty for Economic Well-being; Regional Transport Planning and Strategic Spatial Planning.
• The suggested actions include advocacy for the Real Living Wage; improvement of skills and work pathways; improvement in transport and digital connectivity; and child poverty consideration in planning.
• This strategy has been developed through engagement with local authorities, Welsh Government, Public Service Boards, colleges, voluntary organizations, businesses and young people.

Cardiff (Wales Times) October 30, 2026 — uk/local/cardiff/">Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) has launched its first Children’s Well-being Strategy, setting out a long-term commitment to improving outcomes for children, young people and families across South East Wales by placing child poverty at the centre of regional economic decision-making.

The strategy, published by CCR under the title Growing Up Well in Cardiff Capital Region: A Children’s Well-being Strategy — Fairer Starts, Stronger Futures, describes child poverty as both a moral and statutory priority for the regional body. It commits CCR to using its economic development, transport and planning powers to address the conditions that shape children’s life chances.

As reported by Cardiff Capital Region, the organisation has launched the strategy “today”, with the stated aim of improving outcomes for children across the region. The accompanying strategy document says its vision is “a South East Wales where every child, young person and family lives in an economy that supports them to live well, get on in life and achieve their full potential, regardless of their background or where they live.”

Why has Cardiff Capital Region launched a Children’s Well-being Strategy?

CCR says the strategy is required under the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 and the Child Poverty Strategy (Corporate Joint Committees) (Wales) Regulations 2021, which require Corporate Joint Committees to prepare, publish and maintain a child poverty strategy.

However, the organisation states that the plan is intended to be “more than compliance”. In the strategy’s foreword, CCR Chair Councillor Mary Ann Brocklesby says the region has “a clear statutory and moral duty to act” and that child poverty should become of “mainstream importance” across CCR investments and programmes.

The strategy identifies poverty as a persistent problem across South East Wales. It states that around 84,000 children live in relative poverty, equivalent to one third of the region’s children. CCR uses a comparison in the document, saying the number could fill the Principality Stadium and still leave 10,000 children waiting outside.

The report says the child poverty rate in South East Wales rose from 29.5% in 2014-15 to 32% in 2023-24, measured after housing costs. It also reports that 83,968 children were living in relative low income in 2023-24, an increase of 15% from 2015-16, while 71,523 children were living in absolute low income, an increase of 18.2% over the same period.

What are the strategy’s three priorities?

The strategy sets out three priority areas, which CCR says form a roadmap for developing an economy that better supports children and families.

The first priority, Good Work and Good Pay, focuses on creating good, inclusive jobs and maximising household income. CCR says it will continue to create good jobs, strengthen fair-work principles in job-creation activity, explore promotion of the Real Living Wage, and examine ways to ease cost-of-living pressures relating to energy, housing and transport.

The second priority, Access to Opportunity, aims to create pathways out of poverty for children, young people and parents. Planned activity includes affordable and accessible up-skilling and re-skilling, inclusive routes into work through apprenticeships, work experience and internships, and improved public transport and digital connectivity.

The third priority, Conditions for Shared Prosperity, focuses on strengthening the regional economy and maximising social impact. CCR says it will explore its role in the foundational economy, consider support for social enterprises and social-impact businesses, and assess whether existing funds can do more to reduce child poverty.

How will CCR use its regional powers?

CCR says its distinctive contribution lies in applying a child poverty lens to the three statutory duties available to it: Economic Well-being, Regional Transport Planning and Strategic Spatial Planning.

Under Economic Well-being, CCR says it will prioritise secure, well-paid jobs, skills pathways and investments that benefit parents and children. It says it will seek to influence the quality, accessibility and location of employment to improve incomes, job security and progression opportunities.

Under Regional Transport Planning, the strategy says better connectivity could reduce the time, cost and complexity of travel, helping parents access work or training and enabling young people to reach opportunities safely and reliably.

Under Strategic Spatial Planning, CCR says it will consider where new businesses, homes and infrastructure are located, with the aim of supporting more accessible, well-connected and resilient communities.

What evidence shaped the strategy?

The strategy draws on research and engagement carried out between October 2025 and April 2026. CCR says it engaged with lead officers for economic development and child and family services across all 10 South East Wales local authorities, as well as Welsh Government, the Wales Centre for Public Policy, the Gwent and Cwm Taf Morgannwg Public Service Boards, voluntary councils, colleges and the Federation of Small Businesses Wales.

CCR also says it visited six youth clubs across South East Wales in Rhoose, Beddau, Abertillery, Penarth, Pontypool and Cwmbran—to speak with young people about social and economic well-being, transport, skills, work and the changes they would like to see in their communities.

The strategy highlights several economic factors associated with child poverty. It says two thirds of children in poverty live in households with at least one adult in paid employment, while poverty rates are higher in households where no adults are employed. It also identifies insecure work, low skills, poor transport and digital connectivity, lone-parent households, early-years costs, and higher poverty rates among ethnic minority households and disabled people as relevant factors.

Regional differences are also set out in the document. In 2023-24, the child poverty rate ranged from 24.3% in Monmouthshire to 35.6% in Blaenau Gwent. CCR also reports a 77.7-point gap in Key Stage 4 achievement between pupils eligible and not eligible for free school meals across South East Wales.

What has CCR said about funding?

The strategy says much of its delivery will involve applying a child poverty lens to existing and future CCR programmes and investments, rather than creating an entirely new set of spending commitments.

CCR identifies potential funded activity in four areas: exploring opportunities to promote South East Wales as a Real Living Wage region; building a culture of possibility and supporting aspiration; exploring CCR’s role in the foundational economy; and exploring support for social enterprises and businesses operating in the social-impact space.

The report says CCR will seek support from Welsh Government and other funding partners for additional activities. It adds that all funded activity will feed into CCR’s medium-term financial plan.

In comments included in the report, the Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer states that any potentially new and additional financial commitments will need to be considered separately, with steps taken to seek funding from Welsh or UK governments and others if further activities are identified.

Background of the development

Cardiff Capital Region is the South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee, covering 10 local authority areas. Its child poverty strategy has been developed in the context of earlier statutory work: a 2024 CCR document said the organisation was working towards a Child Poverty Strategy under the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010.

The latest strategy was considered by the South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee on 13 July 2026 in a report authored by Colan Mehaffey, CCR’s Strategic Director of Policy, Impact and Partnerships. The report recommended that the committee consider and approve the CCR Child Poverty Strategy, stating that adoption would ensure statutory compliance and outline the approach to helping lift children and families in South East Wales out of poverty.

The strategy also aligns itself with wider policy frameworks, including the UK Government Child Poverty Strategy (2025), the Welsh Government Child Poverty Strategy (2024), the well-being plans of the four South East Wales Public Service Boards, and the poverty strategies or corporate well-being plans of the region’s 10 local authorities.

Prediction: What could this mean for families and local services?

For families in South East Wales, the strategy could lead to greater attention being given to whether new jobs, transport schemes, housing developments and investment decisions help reduce barriers facing children and parents. If implemented as set out, parents may see more emphasis on fair work, skills opportunities and transport links that make employment and training easier to reach.

For young people, the plan points towards potential expansion of pathways into work, including apprenticeships, work experience, internships and outreach linked to investment areas. CCR also says it will seek to support aspiration from an earlier age, including through youth entrepreneurship and outreach in sectors receiving investment.

For local authorities, schools, colleges, employers and voluntary organisations, the strategy signals a more coordinated regional approach. CCR says the plan will be co-delivered with partners and is intended to complement, rather than duplicate, existing anti-poverty work.

The practical effect will depend on delivery, funding and the extent to which the child poverty lens changes actual investment and planning decisions. CCR itself notes that new financial commitments require separate consideration, meaning the strategy’s early impact is likely to be measured through how existing programmes are shaped, rather than through immediate new spending announcements.