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

 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 £ % 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 £ 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

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?

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