Local solutions to local issues: Understanding how Town and Community Councils address the cost-of-living crisis

At the beginning of July 2026, researchers from Wavehill were invited to One Voice Wales’s annual conference to share the findings of our social impact assessment of Town and Community Council response to the cost-of-living crisis across Wales.

Although it is widely known that many Community and Town Councils provide valuable services for their residents, our research represented the first attempt to quantify and outline the scale of these impacts.

A photo of Rhys Maher holding up a paper containing his findings at the One Voice Wales Conference

Our research looked into the wide range of ways that Community and Town Councils across Wales responded to the cost-of-living crisis in their local areas by funding and delivering activities to support their residents. Using a combination of desk research, consultations and one of the largest surveys ever conducted with the Community and Town Council sector, we built a detailed dataset on the capacity of councils, the activities they deliver and the barriers they face in continuing their community work.

Compiling this data, we were able to build a social return on investment model, accounting for the inputs provided by councils (in terms of funding, staffing, in-kind contributions and volunteers) as well as their key outcomes, such as the number of people supported benefitting from warm hubs or youth activities. Using of our survey data as well as wider academic literature, we were able to account for factors like deadweight and attribution in our model and provide a net estimate of the total social value generated by the sector. Our analysis estimated that the sector generated £25.6 million of social impact in 2025. If you’d like to know more, you can read our full report here.

We have been able to demonstrate our strong track record of offering a bespoke set of research activities to support the evidence needs of our partners. Working with One Voice Wales’ Cost-of-Living Team has enabled us to quantify the value created by this sector and showcase the important contributions of Councils at a hyper-local level across Wales.

If you would like more information about Wavehill’s research work, including our social impact assessments, please contact Rhys Maher (rhys.maher@wavehill.com) or Jakob Abekhon (jakob.abekhon@wavehill.com).