POVERTY has become “endemic and grinding” in Wales with new polling showing one in eight families often or always struggle to afford the essentials, the Bevan Foundation warned today.

One in four adults has skipped meals for themselves or cut down on the size of meals in the three months, according to the YouGov survey for the think tank.

Another 24 per cent have gone without heating in the home and three in 10 have borrowed money because of increasing pressure on household finances in the previous three months.

One in eight are in arrears of more than a month on at least one household bill and a fifth are more in debt now than they were 12 months ago.

The Bevan Foundation’s Joel Davies said: “While for some households, finances might be feeling slightly less stretched, our new data shows that hardship remains at far greater levels than before the cost-of-living crisis began. 

“People continue to struggle with the most basic essentials of food and energy in particular, and can’t afford to replace basic clothing and household essentials when they wear out.”

The think tank’s CEO Steffan Evans added: “Poverty continues to take a terrible toll on the lives of thousands of people across Wales.

“Reducing poverty must be the priority for the UK government as it drafts its eagerly awaited autumn Budget.

“Measures such as scrapping the two-child limit on benefits must therefore be front and centre of the Budget. 

“In Wales, with less than six months to go until the next Senedd election it is clear that all parties must place tackling poverty at the top of their lists as they draft their manifestos.”