1. Welfare reform – informing activities Royton, Shaw and Crompton District Partnership Corporate Research & Intelligence Team April 2013

2. 2 Introduction This briefing contains information to help District Partnerships develop further activities to mitigate the impacts of welfare reform in their areas. It contains sections on: Impact of Welfare Reform - with maps showing areas where residents in receipt of a range of benefits likely to be affected by welfare reform live Debt – with maps showing areas where residents are already experiencing problems with debt which may be made worse by welfare reform Targeting messages – with information that can be used to help District Partnerships tailor their communications to residents in their area and including information about internet use

3. 3 Impact of Welfare Reform maps The following maps show areas where residents are claiming particular benefits and may be affected by welfare reform. The maps include: Out of work benefits claimants – these residents are likely to be affected by the introduction of Universal Credit (to be phased in in Oldham from July 2013) and by other welfare reform changes to one or more of the benefits/ credits they receive Work capability assessment – some claimants have already been or will be moved from Incapacity Benefit (IB) to Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and then possibly to Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) Disability living allowance (DLA) / Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – DLA will be replaced by PIP in a phased approach starting with new claims in ‘M’ postcodes in Oldham from April 2013 then from June 2013 in the rest of Oldham Children living in poverty – these maps show where the impact of freezing Child Benefit and changes to tax credits are likely to have been/ will be felt most Housing Benefit changes – highlights the areas where the impact of Local Housing Allowance and Under-occupation (‘bedroom tax’) changes are likely to be felt most Council Tax Benefit – shows areas where the impact of changes to Council Tax Benefit are likely to be felt most

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9. 9 Percentage of children living in poverty

10. 10 Percentage of children living in poverty in workless households

11. 11 Percentage of children living in poverty in working households

12. 12 Percentage of households claiming Council Tax Benefit and/or Housing Benefit

13. 13 Claim rates for Registered Provider households claiming Council Tax Benefit and/ or Housing Benefit HousiBenefit

14. 14 % of households receiving Council Tax Benefit and/or Housing Benefit by tenure

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19. 19 Royton, Shaw and Crompton 40.8% of households are Comfortably Off, 29.8% Moderate Means: relatively prosperous overall. Largest types (in size order) are: o Satisfied retired couples o Families and single parents, some financial uncertainty o Elderly people in traditional terraces o Stable empty-nester couples o Singles and couples in small terraces

20. 20 Royton, Shaw and Crompton While Shaw and Crompton were often historically linked, there is little similarity, and Crompton residents have more in common with those of Royton North in particular. Royton North and South are particularly similar. Half of Crompton households are Comfortably Off, with 1 in 8 Wealthy Achievers. Relatively few are Hard-Pressed. 1 in 6 households are “Satisfied retired couples”.

21. 21 Royton, Shaw and Crompton Royton North is very similar to Crompton, but with slightly higher levels of disadvantage, and more of a mix of types. Royton South has the lowest proportion of Hard- Pressed outside of Saddleworth, but less wealth than other wards in this district. Shaw is the poorest of the four wards: Moderate Means is the most common type. 1 in 10 households are still Wealthy Achievers however.

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26. 26 Potential issues relating to impact of Welfare Reform on Royton, Shaw and Crompton’s residents online applications only monthly payments direct to claimants increases in levels of homelessness and destitution

27. 27 Some groups won’t be shifted

28. 28 Facebook and web services

29. 29 Debt The following maps show areas where residents are already experiencing problems with debt which may be made worse by welfare reform. The maps include: CAB debt clients Credit refusals Difficulty in repaying loans Debt consolidation Current difficulties and future vulnerabilities Credit card ownership Credit card regular usage Paying off cards Mortgage vulnerability There is also a chart showing the proportion of residents aged 16+ without a current, credit union or building society account by ward.

30. 30 CAB Debt clients

31. 31 Credit refusal

32. 32 Difficulty with repaying loans

33. 33 Debt Consolidation

34. 34 Credit card ownership

35. 35 Credit card regular usage

36. 36 Paying off cards

37. 37 Mortgage vulnerability

38. 38 Residents aged 16+ without a current, credit union or building society account

39. 39 Targeting activities Don’t make the mistake of thinking that what works in Royton and Crompton will work in Shaw: they are likely to have very different drivers and need different messages. In Royton and Crompton, green issues may be a relatively good lever for change: this is not the case in Shaw.

40. 40 Targeting activities Working with or passing messages through community groups may be effective in this area. All wards are relatively happy to receive local government marketing, and tend to respond more to marketing than average. Crompton is somewhat less responsive, and both Royton North and Crompton may respond poorly to leafleting.

41. 41 Targeting activities There areas are not heavy users of social networking, so this may not be an appropriate route for marketing to the community as a whole. Overall they have average levels of digital engagement.

42. 42 For further information please contact: Susan Kirkham at susan.kirkham@oldham.gov.uk or on 0161 770 5186susan.kirkham@oldham.gov.uk Jon Taylor at jon.taylor@oldham.gov.uk, or on 0161 770 1455jon.taylor@oldham.gov.uk Martin Burroughs at gis@oldham.gov.uk, or on 0161 770 1694gis@oldham.gov.uk