Home-Start in Wales have been awarded £499,000 by the Big Lottery Fund over four years to provide support for families affected by in-work poverty in communities across Wales.

Bethan Webber, Home-Start Director of Wales, said: “Home-Start is delighted that the Big Lottery Fund have chosen to support our proposal to the Helping Working Families fund. We welcome the different approach they’ve taken with the fund, and the focus on the importance of working together with families to produce support which reflects their needs. This will make a real difference to working families across Wales, for whom the challenges of family life can be compounded by juggling different jobs or trying to manage on low incomes. We are really looking forward to working with families to take this forward.”

The innovative funding will see Home-Starts use their experience of working with families to engage parents to understand the financial issues they face and design activities to address their needs.

Andrew Brown, Funding Manager for the Big Lottery Fund said: “We want to show that we are serious about putting people in the lead and funding development work involving the people who will benefit from the project is a big step in that direction. We want organisations to make the leap and really listen to what the families want and need. We are looking forward to finding out what Home Start UK will plan to do with the grant.”

Families may move in and out of poverty depending on their circumstances at the time. Helping Working Families will encourage people and organisations to work together to produce solutions to improve the lives of families with children affected by poverty.

The focus of support is likely to be on activities that help the families gain more control over their lives financially. Transport and childcare are known barriers to families experiencing poverty. Home-Start will work with families to develop activities and services which will help overcome these, and other, challenges to improve well-being and increase financial resilience.