Deven Ghelani, founder and director of Policy in Practice, was invited to speak at the IRRV Annual Conference and Exhibition 2018 in Telford. He delivered this talk, titled Universal Credit: its impact and what you can do about it to the local authority, enforcement agents and third sector audience.
To find out more visit www.policyinpractice.co.uk, call 0330 088 9242 or email hello@policyinpractice.co.uk
2. We make the welfare system
simple to understand, so that
people can make the decisions
that are right for them
We help people toward
independence by making
the welfare system simple to
understand.
3.
4. Universal Credit
1.Universal Credit: Progress update
• Rollout to date
• Universal Support and Citizens advice
• Who loses and why?
2.The impact in your area
• House of Commons Library tool
• Regional and ward level analysis of the impacts
• Who will struggle with Universal Credit?
• Who is on Universal Credit today?
3. The impact of Universal Credit
• What is the impact of Universal Credit on homelessness?
• Engage people with personalised support
7. Full service implementation
• Full service for all new claims will be rolled-out by end of 2018
• Roll-out is ramping up - only 6 councils in March and April. But 25 in May,
34 in June, 41 in July
• ‘Fire-break’ in August but 43 councils in September, including Glasgow and
Liverpool, another 43 in October
• Then migration of existing cases from July 2019
8. Presentation to Cabinet
• Esther McVey reported to Cabinet on progress in rolling out
Universal Credit
• 84% claimants paid on time (so 16% were not)
• about two-thirds of those claimants not paid on time had an outstanding
verification issue such as providing bank statements, evidence of
childcare costs or proof of rent.
• Other delays were caused when claimants had not signed up to job-
seeking commitments required by the DWP.
9. 999
Secretary of State:
“Half of all lone parents and two-thirds of
couples with children stand to lose £2,400
a year, £200 each month, once they are
transferred to universal credit.”
10. SoS: “Some will lose £200 a month”
Policy in Practice analysis finds that half of all families in work will be worse off
under Universal Credit.
This includes
• Owner-occupiers (ineligibility and higher withdrawal rate)
• Lone parents (cuts to work incentives and U25 rate)
• People with three or more children (due to the two-child limit)
• Disabled people (due to loss in premiums)
• Self-employed people (due to the minimum income floor)
Many of the losses are not inherent to Universal Credit – what would happen if
these changes were introduced to the legacy system?
12. Universal Support: The role for you
There is and always will be an important and essential role for local authorities…
The demand for Universal Credit data to make local support effective is essential.
Universal Support means preventing homelessness, and stopping children from falling into care and
broader holistic support
14. House of Commons Library
• Roll-out 14% complete
• Just under 7 million households are expected to receive UC when it is fully
introduced.
• House of Commons Library: Constituency data rollout tool
• Stat-Xplore: Stat-Xplore
15.
16.
17. Questions and Learn More
• Policy in Practice Select Committee analysis on the Benefit Cap
• House of Commons – Universal Credit in your area
• DWP – Stat-Xplore
• Policy in Practice – Pan-London analysis
• Policy in Practice – LIFT Dashboard for Universal Credit impacts
• Policy in Practice – Benefit and Budgeting Calculator
• Influence National Policy – email hello@ to join our Leading Lights
• Come and see a demo and ask questions at our stand
This isn’t the end of the line for local authorities…
The demand for Universal Credit data to make local support effective is essential if the support you
provide means preventing homelessness, and stopping children from falling into care.
18. At a glance dashboard giving
you actionable information.
• Universal Credit
• Discretionary support
• Future reforms
• Housing Needs
• Arrears and debts
New use cases are being
developed each month.
A quick overview
19. We bring multiple datasets
together.
To show the combined
impact of policy – both now
and in the future.
With financial resilience and
arrears risk through
household level income and
expenditure data.
The cumulative impact of policies…
20. Mrs Jones near Spring Lane is
£5,009 in arrears with a
shortfall of £371 per month.
She will be £54.38 per month
worse off as a result of the
benefit cap and has high
barriers to work.
…on each individual household….
21. Link the data directly into our
Benefit and Budgeting support
in single system.
Efficiencies avoiding multiple or
repeat data capture.
Show the impact of moving into
work alongside personalised
and preventative advice on
actions to increase income, and
reduce costs.
Engage residents
22. Understand the pathways into
and out of debt and poverty.
Understand the journey into
and out of debt, or see
household in severe, short term
or persistent debt.
Understand the effectiveness of
interventions to get people out
of debt.
…to track households over time
23. We believe the DWP can better target
Universal Support.
• identify the impact of Universal Credit
on households before they migrate
across
• track the outcomes of households as
they move onto Universal Credit, and
• engage households through clear
calculations, explanations and advice
that help people to take control of their
situation.
Our view on Managed Migration
“Managed migration could fix
Universal Credit’s image problem”
“Nine in ten applications for a
Discretionary Housing Payment
(DHP) are successful,
Yet only one in five households
that need a DHP apply.”
24. 242424
Thank you, any questions?
Deven Ghelani
Policy in Practice
hello@policyinpractice.co.uk
0330 088 9242
Editor's Notes
Three main areas:- Software
Analytics
Policy
I worked on Universal Credit, Policy into Practice –
Make sure policy can be understood by people and organisation on the frontline.
Ensure policy is informed by practical experience on the frontline.