New policy analysis, events and awards

In this issue

In the news: Deven speaks to BBC R4 about removing the £20 uplift to Universal Credit
Software update: See the impact of losing the Universal Credit £20 uplift
Analysis: the impact of the Health and Social Care Levy and end to Covid-19 support
The impact of Covid support measures on London’s most vulnerable residents
Congratulations: our clients were finalists at this year’s Public Finance Awards
Back to in-person events: Housing 2021; look ahead to IRRV Annual Conference
On-demand webinar: How Autumn's income shocks will hit low income families
Next month's webinar, people news and latest blog posts

In the news: Deven speaks to BBC R4 about removing the £20 uplift to Universal Credit

With the end of Covid-19 welfare support fast approaching, we have been busy in the media talking about the impact that removing the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit will have on households. We also carried out analysis to show the combined impact of the new Health and Social Care Levy and the cut to Universal Credit.

We outlined policy alternatives to the £20 cut to Universal Credit on BBC Radio 4's The Briefing Room

Here’s a brief round-up of our media appearances:

We urged the Prime Minister not to cut Universal Credit: Read our open letter here
Our published analysis on the new Health and Social Care Levy and its impact on the care sector was featured in The Guardian: Read our findings here, and our analysis in The Guardian here.
Our work was covered on LBC, GB News, West Midlands Radio and many other places.
Deven will be speaking on a panel alongside the Secretary of State at the Conservative Party Conference next week. If you have any points you think he should make, please email hello@policyinpractice.co.uk

More importantly, we’ve upgraded our software to help people and organisations prepare for the cut.

Software update: help to plan for the loss of the Universal Credit £20 uplift

Help for people on Universal Credit to plan for the loss of the £20 uplift

Policy in Practice’s free Benefit Calculator now shows users their likely Universal Credit award with or without the £20 uplift, allowing people to toggle between the two options. This helps people to plan for the income cut.

As default, we have removed the £20 a week uplift from Universal Credit award calculations. This is because people who make new claims for Universal Credit will receive their first payment next month after the uplift is expected to be removed. If you wish to see the £20 a week uplift included, click the link on the results page to add it in.

Find out more about the Benefit and Budgeting Calculator

Information for local authorities to plan poverty prevention campaigns

Local authorities can get insights by analysing their administrative data to understand the impact of the cut to Universal Credit, combined with the end of furlough, the return of the Minimum Income Floor and the impact on council tax support on their residents.

We have built a new screen Covid-19 recovery screen in our LIFT platform for leading councils across the UK to see exactly which households in their area will be impacted by these changes, enabling them to identify actions to help mitigate the impact of these cuts. Councils are able to model best and worst-case scenarios by adjusting the proportion of those on furlough who move onto Universal Credit.

Find out more about the Low Income Family Tracker platform

Analysis: the impact of the Health and Social Care Levy and end to Covid-19 support

Analysis by Policy in Practice finds that the new Health and Social Care Levy will mean that a carer earning the National Living Wage in April 2022 would pay an extra £121 a year, in effect paying for doing their job of caring for others.

By April 2022, the combination of the new Health and Social Care Levy and the removal of the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit would mean they are £1,035 per year worse off, despite the planned increase to the National Living Wage.

Read our findings here

The impact of Covid support measures on London’s most vulnerable residents

We were delighted to host some of our London based clients in our new offices in Westminster earlier this month. We shared some of the latest findings from our latest data-led analysis, showing how Covid support measures and falling rents played a vital role in helping the most vulnerable Londoners cope financially through the pandemic.

It was wonderful to be able to share these findings at an in-person event and we are very grateful for the support our clients showed in attending the event.

View the latest Living Standards Index here
View the steering group slides here
Read report: Impact of removal of Covid support and rising housing costs
Read report: Impact of Covid on caseloads and costs

Congratulations: our clients were finalists at this year’s Public Finance Awards

We would like to extend a huge congratulations to our clients, Sutton Council and Rooftop Housing who were finalists at this year’s Public Finance Awards.

Sutton Council was shortlisted for the Best Digital Finance Project of the Year Award and Rooftop Housing was shortlisted in the Finance Team of the Year - local services category.

Both categories featured innovative and impactful work by leading organisations. Whilst Sutton Council and Rooftop Housing missed out on a win we are nevertheless very proud to have played a part in their success.

View the finalists and winners

See you at the IRRV Annual Conference 2021
Wednesday 6 to Friday 8 October, Telford

Visit us on stand 25

Listen to our clients in conversation with Policy in Practice on our stand:

Wednesday 6 October at 12 midday: Dawn Cove, Redbridge Council
Thursday 7 October at 12 midday: Ellie Kershaw, Tower Hamlets Council

Enter our daily prize draw to win £50 for your favourite charity
Enjoy a Policy in Practice cupcake on us

Chat to the Policy in Practice team about our policy work and software solutions

Hear us talk on Thursday 7 October, Welfare, Benefits and Social Inclusion stream

09:00 to 09:30 Making the most of Universal Credit (and its data)

with Deven Ghelani, CEO and Sam Tims, Senior Policy Analyst, Policy in Practice
11:00 to 11.30 How administrative data fights food poverty

with Ellie Kershaw, Tackling Poverty Programme Delivery Manager, LB of Tower Hamlets and Louise Murphy, Policy in Practice
15:45 to 16:15 One council’s response to the end of Covid-19 support

with Dawn Cove, Head of Benefits, Redbridge Council and Alex Clegg, Policy in Practice

Visit our IRRV 21 webpage for more details

Back to in-person events: Housing 2021

It was lovely to see so many people at the Housing 2021 Conference in Manchester this month. We thoroughly enjoyed exhibiting at an in-person event again, after what has felt like a very long 18 months.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Caroline Gale from Your Housing Group and Marie Hardeman from The Guinness Partnership for taking the time to chat to us at our stand about how they use our products to support their residents.

If you missed these conversations listen back below
Visit our housing providers webpage for more details

On-demand webinar: How Autumn's income shocks will hit low-income families

We were delighted to host Monica Kaur from the Money and Pensions Service in our September webinar on the end of Covid support. Nearly 1,000 people registered to hear about the factors that kept many low-income families out of poverty in the past year and how they are changing, meaning many thousands will be worse off.

Families are set to be hit by big income shocks with the end of furlough, reintroduction of the Minimum Income Floor, loss of the £20 a week Universal Credit increase and the end of the Benefit Cap’s grace period. New data analysis from Policy in Practice predicts significant losses for some families who will struggle to cope and who will need the support of frontline organisations to help them through.

In this webinar we explored what the Autumn may bring for low-income households and how support organisations can work now to prevent hardship and prepare for an increased demand for services.

View the slides and recording
Listen back to edited extracts of our speakers

People news

We are delighted to welcome our new joiners this month:

Paul Garlick, Strategic Client Service Manager
Jim Gardner, Technical Analyst

We are recruiting for:

Engineering team members
Business and Account Manager

Check out our latest vacancies and find out what it's like to work at Policy in Practice here.

We were delighted to have our largest team gathering since before the pandemic at our new offices in Westminster. Colleagues travelled from Wiltshire, Manchester and Edinburgh to join our London-based team for drinks and pizza.

September's blog posts

Policy alternatives to the £20 cut to Universal Credit
Deven Ghelani outlines the policy alternatives to the £20 cut to Universal Credit that he explored on BBC Radio 4’s The Briefing Room.
Read more

How the Health and Social Care Levy will affect care workers
Analysis on the new Health and Social Care Levy by Policy in Practice finds that carers are set to pay £121 for doing their job
Read more

We urge the Prime Minister not to cut Universal Credit
The planned cut to Universal Credit will contribute to an Autumn of income shocks for many families. We urge the Prime Minister to retain it.
Read more