SR2020, policy round up, 12 days of Christmas, and people updates

Spending Review 2020: From health crisis to economic emergency

Last week's Spending Review revealed a deep and long lasting economic impact from Covid-19. Whilst delivering some good news for low-income families it did not address concerns about child poverty. As 70% of children living in poverty are in a working household a real boost to the National Minimum Wage would have helped poorer families. With unemployment set to rise to 7.5% it was also disappointing that no commitment was given to keep the £20 a week uplift in benefits or the Minimum Income Floor suspension. Our analysis showed that these measures boosted the income of Universal Credit households by over £90 a month.

In good news, the Spending Review 2020 outlined almost £3 billion extra funds for councils who must now ensure their discretionary support is well targeted to support residents most in need.

We have helped councils to understand the impact that the economic consequences of Covid-19 will have on their low income residents. This will allow the councils to understand future resource requirements and how best to support their residents. Similarly, we are helping Luton Council and other LIFT clients to identify newly vulnerable residents using data analysis so that they can adapt their support services.

Read our analysis of Spending Review 2020 and what we want to see in the Spring Budget

Ask about our policy modelling to understand the impact of Covid-19

Listen back to Luton Council talk about how data insights are helping with Covid-19 recovery

12 Days of Christmas coming soon

What a year 2020 has been. We know, from talking to our clients every day, that it's been an incredibly tough year. Yet as we look to an uncertain Christmas and beyond, there are reasons for optimism ahead.

At Policy in Practice we plan to spread much-needed cheer this Christmas by sharing the successes our clients have achieved. We want to showcase and celebrate the achievements they've had this year. We are currently gathering our client's stories and will release them over twelve days before Christmas.

Clients only: submit your good news and be in with a chance to win £50 for your favourite charity

Our work this month on policy

Covid-19 recovery

Policy in Practice submitted evidence to the Scottish Social Security Committee on the role of Scottish Social Security in Covid-19 recovery. We gave four recommendations based on our work throughout the pandemic. They were: collect and analyse administrative benefits data held by Scottish local authorities, prioritise paying the Scottish Child Payment sooner, increase the take-up of benefits and create a network of benefits advisors

Evidence: the role of Scottish Social Security in Covid-19 recovery

DWP's response to Covid-19 and Test and Trace

In her evidence session to the Work and Pensions Committee this month, Zoe Charlesworth made three key points: free school meals make a significant difference to families on low incomes, statutory sick pay is too low, and housing costs make Londoners worse off. Zoe's evidence about the barriers faced by people applying for the test and trace payment was widely reported in the media.

Evidence: DWP’s response to the coronavirus outbreak

Free School Meals

As Marcus Rashford's campaign to tackle child food poverty secured a widely supported boost of £170 million from the government this month, our analysis showed that it would cost the government three times less than parents to feed children, due to Universal Credit. We offer strategies that the government could adopt to ensure that no family is in financial crisis due to school holidays.

Why it pays for the government to fund Free School Meals
Free school meals should be for all school holidays, not just for Christmas

Universal Credit and the wait for the first payment

The Work and Pensions Committee published findings from its inquiry into Universal Credit and the wait for a first payment this month, and changes to Universal Credit suggested by Policy in Practice are included. We recommended the introduction of a targeted grant to replace Universal Credit Advances, a two-week run-on of Child Tax Credit, fortnightly payments of Universal Credit, and greater flexibility in processes such as the recovery of overpayments and advances, claim verification and backdating.

Policy in Practice's recommended changes to Universal Credit published by Work and Pension Committee

Our November talks on debt, welfare reform and the benefit cap

Debt

Building financial resilience to get ahead of the curve
Thursday 29 October, Money Advice Liason Group: Virtual summit. Sarah Lambert discussed research and initiatives we've developed to support organisations in the financial sector to get ahead of the curve. Sarah also announced that she has been invited to chair the new East Anglian MALG regional group.

View slides

How to find the right debt solution for everyone
Wednesday 11 November. Zoe Charlesworth and Sarah Lambert were joined by Carole Kenney, CDER Group and CIVEA president, and Gareth McNab, Nationwide Building Society. Zoe's overview of the drivers of debt illustrated how easy falling into debt is, and how getting out is hard. Carole talked about how the collections sector is responding and Gareth did the same for the lending sector. They both shared how our Benefit and Budgeting Calculator is helping their respective organisations.

View slides and listen back here

Welfare reform and the future

Current Challenges and the Future Direction of Social Security Reform
Monday 23 November. Westminster Insight. Zoe Charlesworth delivered the keynote address and explored the implications of the government’s response to COVID 19 on the benefits system, how to improve its design, delivery, flexibility and speed to support people in times of crisis, how to ensure it can weather the longer-term effects of the crisis and why creating a person-centred social security system is needed.

View slides

Benefit cap

The benefit cap: the policy and the practice
Thursday 26 November, York University. Deven Ghelani was invited to join York University's conference To cap it all: Understanding the reach and impact of the benefit cap. Deven shared findings from our work using administrative data to understand the impact of the cap on households.

View slides here

Child vulnerability evaluated
Deven Ghelani was invited to write for The MJ on what more can be done to stop children from falling into crisis and how data can be used to secure better outcomes for the most vulnerable. He said "With 21% of households affected by the benefit cap more likely to move into work, [the policy] has lost sight of those households living closer to destitution."

Read The MJ: Child vulnerability evaluated

2020: Policy review of the year, and a forward look to 2021
Wed 9 December at 10:30 to 11:30

2020 has brought fundamental changes to our lives, both personally and professionally. As our economy took second place to our health, so the welfare safety net came to the fore to support families who faced an income shock, seemingly overnight.

In this webinar we look back at the policy response to the seismic shifts in our economy and society wrought by the pandemic. We will revisit the research findings we uncovered from our analysis for clients across both local and central government. And, as the focus turns to the health of our economy, we look at what 2021 means for people facing redundancy, debt or lower incomes.

Join this webinar to hear:

How well the COVID-19 welfare changes worked, and what should happen next
How living standards changed this year, and what the future holds
The outlook for 2021 and how organisations can best support families

Our policy experts will discuss our analysis and what this means in 2021 for council tax support schemes, housing and homelessness demand, the outlook for living standards in the context of economic recovery, Universal Credit and Brexit.

Register here

Our webinars are free and start at 10.30 for 1 hour 15 mins. If you can’t make the date please register anyway to automatically receive the slides and recording. Contact hello@policyinpractice.co.uk with any questions.