REAL LIFE REFORM

Lisa Pickard & Andy Williams

Welfare Reform Workshop

Putting research and knowledge into practice

25 March 2014

Leeds Alliance members PARTICIPATING:- Unity Housing- Connect housing

RLR – Making a Difference

o Real case studies sharing real stories – the human impact of welfare reform

o Real life information that will shape organisational policies and strategies

o Enables a deeper understanding of the impact on & experience of customers & communities

o Northern Perspective & comparison

o Evidence for All Party Parliamentary Group, policy shapers & stakeholders

o MATERIAL FOR TENANTS & CUSTOMERS TO USE & RESPOND TO

70-100 case study households Volunteers Not hand picked by us!

Quarterly research & interviews Minimum of 6 Designed questionnaire & methodology Ethical Statement Experience & trends Front line staff trained as research facilitators NOT a housing survey!

Tracking landlord trends & performance Separate to case studies

Households are surviving on restricted budgets and struggling to get by. 65% have less than £10 per week to live on following rent and essentials such as food and

bills. 37% have nothing left each week.

Households are intending to cut back on spending on food and fuel – 25% spend less than £20 per week on food.

Eight out of ten households are already in debt and 83% of families are worried about getting into more debt. Over half of those in debt doubt when they’ll be able to clear these debts

The average level of debt is £2418.

Families are reporting increases in levels of stress and depression.

88% of households are worried welfare changes will impact their health and wellbeing

Parents report they are going without to protect their children’s health Parents report worries that bullying may increase

77% of families report believe the changes will impact on their neighbourhood and there are worries about loan sharks and crime

Many respondents are critical of Job Centre’s efforts to help them find work.

Report 1 – September 2013

Households spending less than £20 per week on food has increased from a quarter to a third of all participants

Case studies having no money left each week once bills have been paid has increased from 39% in July [round1] one to 51%.

The average spend on food per person per day has reduced from £3.27 to £2.10

Households are spending 16% more on gas and electricity at a time when energy prices and usage are increasing.

Debt repayments of more than £40 per week have doubled

The average level of debt per household is £2273• 33% of respondents now have council tax debt• 84% of new respondents think welfare reform changes will adversely impact on their health

and well being

86% think welfare reform will adversely affect shops and businesses in their neighbourhood – was 68%

Increasing criticism of support provided by Agencies such as Job Centres when people are looking for work

Report 2 – December 2013

borrowed a further £670 since October, averaging an increase in debt of £52 each week.

77% of households are in debt and the average debt is £3,503, a 54% increase since our last report. (note: the average debt for ‘retained participants’ is £2,943, a rise of 28%)

£34.41 is the average weekly debt repayment, an increase of 58% 18.5% of income is spent on fuel costs compared to the national average of

5.1%. 69% of households spend less than £40 per week on food. Nearly a third of households spend less than £20 per week on food. Average spend per person per day on food is now £3.08 - up from £2.10 in

December. 46% of participants report have nothing left each week to live on once rent

and essentials such as food and bills have been paid. Use of local shops has halved with less than 5% of participants using them. 60% of active job-seekers applied for between 20 and 40 jobs in the last three

months but 71% were not offered an interview. 22.2% applied for more than 40 jobs, a 113% increase since report two. 70% of applicants for Discretionary Housing Payment have been successful. Participants expressed concern about media representation of people on benefits.

Report 3 – March 2014 2013

Our Impact/Audience 890 twitter followers and established presence on

social media All Party Parliamentary Group for the North Extensive coverage in the press and other

traditional media “Supporters” include third sector, Church leaders,

research organisations, poverty organisations, MP’s, various Chief Executives and “influential “people

Landlords & authorities across the North Our customers : social housing customers : people

affected by welfare reforms

What Next? Consequences

unintended : what are the links and potential impact

Cumulative Impact of the research – is the sum bigger than the parts?

Co-ordination of the research results and their meaning

Communication and influencing

Customer voice how do we ensure their voice is heard in this debate?

Campaign can we raise our game on this front?

Considerations what is working; what isn’t & what could work better or differently?

Any Questions

@RealLifeReform