Welfare Reform: What are the key concerns and challenges for the voluntary sector? Anjelica Finnegan

Presentation Overview 2 key concerns and challenges: 1) Increased demand on services (a) number of service users/clients (b) changes in the type of services/support needed 2) Financial challenges for voluntary organisations How can organisations respond? Case Study: Southampton Advice Service Alliance

Summary of welfare reforms 1% up-rating Child Benefit Council Tax Benefit Disability Living Allowance Household benefit cap Housing Benefit: Local Housing Allowance Housing Benefit: Under-occupation (‘bedroom tax’) Incapacity benefits Non-dependant deductions Tax Credits

Increased demand: the number of service users/clients Key point: welfare reforms hit the most disadvantaged hardest. Welfare reforms – once they take effect – will remove £18.87billion/yr from economy. = £470/yr for every working age adult. Biggest financial losses arise from reforms to incapacity benefit (£4.3bn/yr); changes to Tax Credits (£3.6bn/yr); 1% up-rating of (i.e. a real-term cut in) most working-age benefits (£3.4bn/yr). Financial impact of the reforms varies greatly across the country. Blackpool is the worst hit with an estimated £900/year loss for every working age adult. Beatty and Fothergill, 2013 82% (up from 16% from 2012) has seen an increased demand in services (London Voluntary Service Council, 2013).

Source: Beatty & Fothergill, 2013

Changes in the type of services/support needed ‘Cumulative impact’. Confusion & Fear + Reductions in legal aid & advice services = people falling between the gap. People will therefore need crisis support. In addition to crisis support – changes to welfare reform is likely to also impact people’s health, relationships, stress, family network etc.

Funding challenges: the organisations Key point: evidence suggests that voluntary organisations in the most deprived areas will be hardest hit by funding cuts. higher proportion of voluntary sector organisations in deprived areas receive at least some of their income from the state. Same pattern for voluntary organisations who cite state funding as their most important source of income. Most deprived local authorities have had bigger reduction %’age wise. Clifford et.al, 2013 46% - not confident that they will be able to meet an increase in demand for their services (London Voluntary Service Council, 2013).

How Can the Voluntary Sector Respond? Examples of ways in which organisations could adapt Increase number of volunteers Merge with another organisation Improve use of technology Increase collaboration with the private sector “Charities need to rise above their individual silos, to work with each other and with government if they want to achieve change” – Sir Stuart Etherington (April 2013) SASA case study

Sources Beatty, C and Fothergill, S. (2013). Hitting the poorest places hardest: The local and regional impact of welfare reform. Sheffield: Centre for Regional Economic and Social Researcher, Sheffield Hallam University. Available at: http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/sites/shu.ac.uk/files/hitting-poorest-places-hardest_0.pdf [Accessed: 10.11.13] Civil Society. (2013). Sir Stuart: NCVO will fight attacks against campaigning. Available at: http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/news/content/14732/sir_stuart_ncvo_will_fight_attacks_against_campaigning?topic= &print=1. [Accessed on 10.11.2013] Clifford, D. (2013). Variations between Organisations and Localities in Government Funding of Third-sector Activity: Evidence from the National Survey of Third-sector Organisations in England Kane, D & Allen, J. (2011). Counting the Cuts: The impact of spending cuts on the UK voluntary and community sector. London: NCVO Kane, D. Bass, P. Heywood, J. Jochum, V and Wilding, K. (2013). NCVO UK Civil Society Almanac. Available at: http://data.ncvo.org.uk/category/almanac/ . [Accessed: 10.11.2013] London Voluntary Service Council. (2013). The Big Squeeze 2013: A fragile state. Available at: http://www.lvsc.org.uk/research- policy/big-squeeze.aspx. [Accessed: 10.11.2013] Macmillan, R. Taylor, R. Arvidson, M. Soteri-Proctor, A & Teasdale, S. (2013). The third sector in unsettled times: a field guide. Third Sector Research Centre working paper series no. 109. Birmingham: TSRC. Available at: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/generic/tsrc/documents/tsrc/working-papers/working-paper-109.pdf [Accessed: 10.11.13] Rimmer, A (2013). More Transparency needed in charity campaigning, panel is told. Third Sector Magazine. Available at: http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Communications/article/1185975/more-transparency-needed-charity-campaigning-panel-told/ [Accessed on: 10.11.2013]

Thank you for listening