Policy in PracticeDeven Ghelani The cumulative impact

of welfare reform

#NHFwelfarereformJanuary 2017

We make the welfare system simple to understand, so that people can make the decisions that are right for them

The impact of welfare reform policies

Governments may know how one policy affects many people. We can show how all policies combined affect one person.

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Our approach:• We looked at

187,475 real families across 17 local authorities

• We modelled the impact of all welfare reforms shown on the previous slide

The impact on low-income families

The real impact of welfare reform

A summary of the impacts• Low income households are £41.45 worse off by 2020• In-work households are hit harder still - £48.90• The loss from welfare reforms is £381m, while support

through DHPs is £11m for these authorities• By tenure, PRS is hardest hit:• £49.40 / week• £31.98 / week

• 3% report income to be less than their housing costs!• One in ten are in TA - shifting £3,510 in cost to the local

authority

Newcastle City Council and YHN• Comprehensive report on the impact

of welfare reform• Detailed household level dataset• Target the right support, to the right

households before they are impacted

Understand who is affected

“Mrs Jones near Spring Lane is £5,009 in arrears with a shortfall of £371 per month, and will be £54.38 per month worse off as a result of the benefit cap and has high barriers to work.”

Your data can tell you that …

What would you do with that level of detail?

Get involved

Using housing data to assess risk• Partnering with HACT and OCSI• Project to understand which neighbourhoods will be most impacted

by welfare reform• Currently recruiting HAs to help:

• agree key indicators of risk of welfare reform, • outline what LA, HA or open data can feed into these indicators • assess the benefit of that data at a neighbourhood level

• You can also partner with neighbouring Local Authorities• Visit Stand 1 to find out more and sign up

• Support your advisors :• To show residents

the benefits of work.

• explain a changing welfare system.

• Budget better under Universal Credit

• Three new features• Hovers show

exactly how a calculation was reached

• Cash flow impact of weekly earnings

• Slide hours / earnings for flexible jobs

The frontline adviser

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Visit Leo on stand 1:

HACT / OCSI projecthousehold level datasetsBenefit Calculator 3.0

www.policyinpractice.co.uk

Thank youDeven Ghelanideven@policyinpractice.co.uk07863 560677

www.policyinpractice.co.ukhello@policyinpractice.co.uk0330 088 9242