Bridging the Gap: The power of a joined-up approach to support

Simplifying access to Council Tax Support

We are pleased to announce a new partnership between Policy in Practice and Civica, making it easier for residents to access Council Tax Support through the systems council teams already use every day.

By embedding our Better Off Calculator directly into the Civica environment, councils can provide a more seamless route for residents to understand the support they may be eligible for and take the next steps. Bringing these processes together creates a more joined-up experience for residents and officers, while helping to reduce unnecessary friction in the assessment process.

If you would like to unlock these capabilities in your existing system, reach out to your Civica account manager or the Policy in Practice team.

New analysis on CTR take-up featured on BBC Moneybox

Before driving forward with Council Tax Support schemes, it is vital to understand the current state of play. Our latest report with Independent Age, featured on BBC Moneybox, looked closely at how low-income older residents access support. The findings show that when you factor in owner-occupiers, 50% of low-income older residents are missing out on the Council Tax Support they are eligible for, largely due to friction and barriers in the application process.

Building a comprehensive support scheme is complex, but having clear data on these challenges makes developing an effective policy much easier.

To learn how many pensioners are missing out in your local authority, view our Unclaimed Pension Credit map.

Deven Ghelani joined Henry Bonsu on Times Radio to discuss the growing political clash over government spending on welfare and defence. Deven shared how short-term cuts to working-age support simply shifts costs elsewhere in the system, forcing local authorities to foot the bill for rising homelessness and acute social care.

He also joined Shelagh Fogarty on LBC News to discuss the latest Universal Credit figures, rising health-related claims, and how the welfare system can better support people into work.

Sector events

You may have seen us at a few events in September: we were at the IRRV Scottish Conference & Exhibition, the Institute of Money Advisers (IMA) London Money Advice Group meeting, the UK Credit and Collections Conference, the Liberal Democrat Conference, South East Water’s Annual Stakeholder Conference, the hqn Rent Income Excellence Network Annual Conference, the Labour Party Conference, the IRRV Golf Autumn Conference and the IRRV Annual Conference & Exhibition.

With the Party Conference season in full swing, Deven and the team connected with clients and partners across the sector. The sentiment from these conversations and panels was clear: local authorities must be at the heart of national delivery. From devolution and digital reform to NEETs and children’s policy, achieving nationwide growth depends on empowering councils with data to drive early intervention.

If we met at any of those events, we would love to continue the conversation.

Book a call with us here

We’re attending the following events in October. We hope to see you there.

6 October: Helping Customers in Financial Difficulty Conference, London
4-7 October: Conservative Party Conference, Birmingham
8 October: National Energy Action Cymru Fuel Poverty Conference, Cardiff
12 October: Milton Keynes City Council Technology Week, where we will be exhibiting
13 October: Fair 4 All conference, London. If you are attending, drop by our stand
21 October: HACT Community Investment Conference, Birmingham
21-22 October: Solace Summit, Liverpool. Come and see us at stand 5
22 October: London Revenue Group, London
23 October: UK Power Network Consumer Vulnerability Summit, London

MAST: Enhanced action plans using benefits administrative data

Powered by our LIFT dashboard, we can now bring together safeguarding and welfare data to provide individual action plans for each case with a safeguarding concern.

Linking LIFT data to open social care cases in MAST highlights whether these households are experiencing debt or poverty, impacted by welfare reform or at risk of homelessness. The information about additional unclaimed benefits and support, employment and carer status helps tailor interventions, supporting families holistically and sustainably.

With a single integrated platform, organisations can meet multiple key requirements at once: delivering the Families First programme, creating individual action plans covering safeguarding and welfare and complying with information sharing duties.

Watch the webinar replay here to see how joined-up data is helping teams deliver better outcomes for families.

LIFT: Providing more insight into economic inactivity with expanded NEET filters

With the government’s growing focus on tackling economic inactivity, we have enhanced our NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) filter in LIFT to help local authorities deliver proactive support.

Previously, identifying NEET individuals was limited to non-dependents, which could vary depending on the level of data held. Our upgraded filter now includes claimants, partners and dependents, providing local authority teams with a far more comprehensive picture.

Whether delivering core employment services or leading Get Britain Working trailblazer schemes, this expanded capability makes it easier for teams to identify and track outcomes across their entire caseload, helping councils reach out effectively and connect residents with vital employment and training support.

Better Off Calculator: Improved user guidance with Plain Numbers

We have worked with expert consultancy Plain Numbers, in partnership with Anglian Water, to refine questions and supporting tooltips across the Better Off Calculator.

Explaining the benefits system is complex. If people struggle to interpret questions or supporting text, they risk answering incorrectly and receiving an inaccurate calculation. Enhancing the readability of our language helps individuals complete their assessments more quickly, confidently and accurately.

While some of these updates were created specifically for Anglian Water, many of the improvements have been applied globally across the platform so all users can navigate with ease, ensuring a seamless experience.

September was another incredibly busy month across the Better Off platform and our live chat support team has been helping an incredibly varied audience every day.

Despite the huge range of users, the feedback is consistently about quick, helpful and friendly support.

"Fantastic service, quick resolution – very happy."

"Really quick response. And helpful. Thank you."

"Erica was very helpful, prompt responses and not an enormous wait for initial contact."

Live chat is available to all our Better Off Calculator and LIFT users Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm.