Date post: | 15-Aug-2015 |
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Government & Nonprofit |
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Targeting Support: Who will welfare reforms hit hardest?
About Policy in Practice• We make the welfare system
simple to understand, so people can make the decisions that are right for them.
• Work with Birmingham, Leeds, Serco, DWP and many others.
• Recently secured investment from Sean Williams and Big Lottery.
• Looking to build long term partnerships, to support people into work, and toward independence
Consultancy
SoftwarePolicy
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Targeting Support: Who will Welfare Reforms hit hardest?
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• Context: How can we co-ordinate support across Birmingham City Council? Approach: A detailed Impact Assessment for all reforms, today and tomorrow
• Outcomes: Better targeted support that has a tangible impact on behaviour
Today’s speakers
Guy ChaundyBirmingham City Council
Deven GhelaniPolicy in Practice
Context: Birmingham City Council
The Scale of Birmingham• Size: Over 1m residents• Diversity: Population, Geography & Affluence• Unemployment: 5.9% vs 2.5% nationally;
30,000 JSA claimant count, 2nd highest• Housing: 56% o/occ, 24% social, 20% PRS• Politically Active: Largest Local Authority in
Europe, with 40 wards and 120 active local councillors
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Context: Birmingham City Council
The Local Authority is also:• A partner among other stakeholders• A large Social Landlord, with 63,000
properties• Universal Credit is live• Reduced budgets to deliver support now and
in the future
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Support within Birmingham
• Established partnerships with RSLs, Third sector and private landlords, with Strategic District Housing Panels in each of the 10 Districts
• A single Welfare Reform Multi Agency Committee chaired by Cabinet Member, with a sub group focusing on UC implementation– A single portal for feeding back issues on UC to DWP
within the formal monitoring process– Shared training and learning sessions with JCP work
coaches from each of the 12 sites– However…
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However...• We need to understand the impact of all welfare
changes, to better co-ordinate activity.
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Chris Gibbs, Birmingham City Council
We want the council to move beyond sticking plaster solutions. If we can promote work and independence by understanding who is impacted by welfare reforms and working closely with partners, we will have more resources available for people that still need our support. We have an obligation to protect and support the most vulnerable
Our approach:Using local data insights effectively
SHBE
Universal Benefit Calculator
See the impact of specific and cumulative reforms at an aggregate and a household level
A detailed impact assessment for Cabinet members that informs targeted and tailored local welfare support
Any Questions
?
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benefit cap
Under-occupying LHA cap
Council Tax Reduction
CTRS
Tax Credit cuts
lower UC higher UC Better off in Work
# of households affected by multiple reforms
No impact 1 reform
2 reforms
AA1 0 0 7 20 TBC 9 16 32 8 21 7AA4 1 0 59 38 TBC 21 25 55 10 44 25AA11 1 19 45 99 TBC 68 61 143 47 113 47AA16 0 0 0 0 TBC 0 1 1 1 0 0AB1 0 16 25 74 TBC 30 46 99 36 70 34AB2 2 39 89 224 TBC 37 123 246 109 189 96AB3 0 31 41 140 TBC 38 88 134 78 128 55AB4 0 75 166 341 TBC 106 190 456 148 327 163AB5 3 129 73 336 TBC 136 180 432 150 318 155AB6 14 266 630 1355 TBC 406 899 1456 834 1354 575AB7 17 629 346 1839 TBC 780 1038 2235 822 1636 838AB8 43 442 1083 2662 TBC 1140 1306 2786 912 2119 1346AB9 51 968 979 3466 TBC 1481 1614 3103 1411 3085 1676
Who has been impacted by
reforms to date?
What will be the impact of
Universal Credit?
Who has been hit by multiple reforms?
The depth of our analysis goes even deeper, to
household level
Explain a complex picture to CabinetDetailed picture of welfare reform at household level
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Tax Credit cuts?
Preliminary Findings – Universal Credit
• Universal Credit with full transitional protection would bring the local economy £1.6m each month – an additional £30/month for each working age household on average.
Couple with children Couple without children
Lone parent Single
£32,028
£18,189
£26,956
£15,959
Earnings required for UC to fall to zero
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Please note:These shows preliminary findings for Leeds and Birmingham Councils – not to be shared
Preliminary Findings – Benefit Cap
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£26,000 £23,000 £20,000 0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
756
4,305
7,553
Number of Benefi t Cap Cases
• A reduced Benefit Cap would more than quadruple the number of capped households
Average Loss£60.22 / week
Please note:These shows preliminary findings for Leeds and Birmingham Councils – not to be shared
•85% of self-employed households have earning below the Minimum Income Floor.
•There are 2,518 18-21 year olds on housing benefit
•The number of households in the ESA WRAG Group
•The number of households affected by changes to Tax Credits
Some key findings in one large city:
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Please note:These shows preliminary findings for Leeds and Birmingham Councils – not to be shared
Better Outcomes: A better Council Tax Scheme and operational plan for UC
The council has now approved an innovative Council Tax Support scheme aimed at supporting jobseekers into work. The scheme is based on the analysis of schemes provided by PiP.
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Better partnership workingBetter preparation for Universal CreditBetter targeted supportBetter personalised support
VS
Support that leads to savings:Targeted and Tailored Support – letters that engage people
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How do you show the impact to the person in a meaningful way?
JSAChild Tax
Credit
ESAHousing Benefit
Working Tax Credit
Income Support
Engage people and change behaviour
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What have we learned?• Local Authorities face difficult choices
– £12bn of cuts with reforms aimed at changing behaviour.– The combined impact on households is changing, complex and confusing.
• The risk is that households won't get the right support– Councils need to better co-ordinate support with partners. – This includes financial support and support toward independence.– Without better co-ordination, and support into employment, there won't be enough
support available to go around.– This will cost the council and taxpayers through impacts on other services.
• Birmingham Council, with Policy in Practice have developed an approach that will help you to– Better co-ordinate support and prepare for reforms– Explain a complex picture, both to cabinet and to the end user– target and tailor support effectively – Have a tangible and measured impact on behaviour
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Any Questions?
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Next Steps
• Visit our stand• Pick up the Leeds CC case study• Follow us on Twitter• Learn more on one of our Webinars
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