Helping to meet the challenge of welfare reform: local profiling and research methods

1. Helping to meet the challenge of welfare reform: local profiling and research methods Damon Gibbons, Malen Davies & Laura Gardiner

2. Outline of presentation • Main elements of welfare reform likely to increase financial pressures and drive demand for advice and information • Inclusion’s work on local profiling • Additional research and assistance

3. Elements of welfare reform • Incapacity Benefit reform • Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance reform • Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reform • Social Fund Localisation • Council Tax Benefit localisation

4. The impact of IB reform • Eligibility assessments started in April 2011 with the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment and Employment Support Allowance – process to be completed by March 2014 • Ongoing process of assessment, with 3 possible outcomes: JSA, ESA Work Related Activity Group, ESA Support Group • The latest figures from DWP released in March 2012 found that of the 63% of people that were entitled to ESA (34% placed in WRAG, and 29% in Support Group), 37% found fit for work. Short term higher/lower IB = £74.80/£88.50 Long term IB =£99.15 Destinations after WCA: Jobseeker’s Allowance =£71 per week Support group = £99.15 per week Work Related Activity Group = £105.05 per week

5. Impacts for claimants and services • Uncertainty and stress during the assessment process (particularly in respect of people with mental health problems) • Possible reductions in income: Long term IB =£99.15, Jobseeker’s Allowance =£71 per week • Complexity of income effects – household circumstances and interaction with other benefits • Creating an ongoing demand for information and advice.

6. Local profiling • Aug 2011 – 10,300 IB claimants in Salford (DWP dataset) • Inclusion estimates of impacts based on national outcomes from assessment: • Around 3,800 IB claimants to be found fit for work and potentially move onto JSA • Around 3,500 IB claimants moving onto the ESA Work Related Activity Group • Around 3,000 IB claimants moving into the ESA support group • Monthly profile – 300 reassessments in Salford

7. Main HB and LHA reforms in 2013 • Benefit cap – total level of benefit household £26,000 and single household £18,200 (DWP impact assessment provides estimates of numbers affected by local authority) • Direct payment of housing benefit element of Universal Credit to tenants raises concerns about rent arrears • Under occupancy rules for working age tenants in the social rented sector • reduction in level of eligible rent by 14% where a property is under-occupied by one bedroom and by 25% where a property is under-occupied by two or more bedrooms

8. Local profiling • Numbers affected by benefit cap at local authority level set out in DWP impact assessment • Direct payment – Inclusion estimate based on numbers and age profile of social housing tenants and HB claim rate • Inclusion estimate of under-occupancy – further supported by access to local information on under-occupancy (strategic housing market assessments)

9. DLA Reform • From April 2013, DLA will be replaced by the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Government estimates that there will be 20% fewer claimants of PIP than DLA. • Working age DLA claimants will start to have their claims reassessed for PIP from October 2013 to March 2016. • DWP data available. In Salford, figures from August 2011 show that 18,120 people were in receipt of DLA. 15,000 have been in receipt of DLA for over 5 years. • More work needed to understand monthly profile but likely to generate a considerable need for advice and information.

10. Salford will see an overall benefit cut of £103 million over the Spending Review period, a reduction in total spend of approximately 9%.

11. Social Fund Localisation • Settlements for programme funding challenging (around 10% lower than actual spend in first half of 2011/12 in Salford) • Requiring authorities to look at ways of protecting the budget • Tightening eligibility; capping repeat applications; limiting the amount of any grant payment • Using alternatives to cash payments (credit union loans, direct purchasing schemes, food banks)

12. Helping to design local replacement schemes • In Leicestershire: analysing DWP data on current Social Fund applications, decisions and spend and identifying options for different elements of the budget • Examining the potential role for credit unions and where these fit in any new local scheme • Hierarchy of possible assistance – urgent crisis payment - budgeting advance - credit union loan, direct purchase – voucher - grant payment • Helping to draft eligibility criteria for consultation

13. CTB Localisation • Government set to reduce level of support for households to meet their Council Tax Payment by £470 million per year across Great Britain from April 2013. • Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) is proposing to require local authorities to reduce Council Tax Benefit expenditure by 10 per cent • Councils have flexibility to design their own local schemes of assistance for working age residents within this budget.

14. Additional research and assistance • Surveying extent and quality of provision • Qualitative interviews and focus groups with residents affected • Fragmentation analysis: • Mapping welfare reform and wider economic indicators • Mapping changes to welfare rights and debt advice services

15. Fragmentation analysis • Looking at changes to provision and support over time and for different groups of beneficiaries • Analysing how provision has changed and is forecast to change, including levels of funding • Building in local economic indicators • Synthesising information on easy-to-understand diagrams, to draw out pressure points and gaps

16. Other help: the CfRC Atlas