Award nominations, new partnerships, new calculator designs and more

In this issue

Congratulations to our clients for being shortlisted in Public Finance Awards 2021
Better targeted council tax support to low-income households in London
Fabiana Macor presents Policy in Practice’s findings to the Bevan Foundation
We are re-launching our Benefit and Budgeting Calculator with improved design features
We were featured in this month’s Big Issue
Listen back to our webinar on how housing providers can increase the income of their tenants
Register for our steering groups in July
Deven was shortlisted in the Digital Impact awards
People news and latest vacancies
ICYMI: this month’s blogs
Future free webinars

Congratulations to our clients for being shortlisted in Public Finance Awards 2021

Huge congratulations to our clients who have been shortlisted in this year’s Public Finance Awards 2021.

Rooftop Housing
Folkestone & Hythe District Council
London Borough of Barnet
Westminster City Council
London Boroughs of Enfield and Waltham Forest Council
Sutton Council

We are proud to work with such innovative leaders in the public sector. The Public Finance Awards are very prestigious and we are thrilled the hard work and dedication of our clients is getting the recognition they deserve. Fingers crossed for the award ceremony on September 28!

If you are thinking of putting yourself forward for an award please contact hello@policyinpractice.co.uk to find out how we can support your submission.

Better targeted council tax support to low-income households in London

We are launching a project to better target council tax support to low-income households making use of council's access to Universal Credit data.

Councils are not currently able to take a proactive approach. We estimate a £2m increase in welfare support to low income households in each authority and open up local authorities' access to Universal Credit data.

This project is being launched after a successful funding bid from Trust for London and will see us partner with two London councils. We kick off this 12-month project at the beginning of July and will keep you updated on progress.

We would like to thank Trust for London for their continued support in the work that we do!

If you are interested would like to hear more please email us at hello@policyinpractice.co.uk

Fabiana Macor presents Policy in Practice’s findings to the Bevan Foundation

A recent report, commissioned by the Bevan Foundation and Wales Anti-Poverty Coalition, found that extending the provision of Free School Meals to children in all Universal Credit households would allow 99% of families on low-income to be eligible for Free School Meals.

The report evaluated the financial cost of extending Free School Meals to all families in receipt of Universal Credit and was met with a positive reception in Wales.

We were very pleased that Fabiana Macor, Policy and Data Analyst at Policy in Practice was invited to present at the Bevan Foundation’s seminar on Meeting the challenge of Free School Meals for more children.

Fabiana presents our findings to the group:

Extending provision to children in all Universal Credit households would increase the total cost by £10.5 million per year, from £38.9 million to £49.5 million
This would allow 99% of families on low-income with children aged between 4-16 to be eligible for FSM, up from 78%
Newly eligible households would save an average of £1,280 per year, or £764 per child per year, based on a CPI-adjusted value of £3.90 per meal

You can watch Fabiana’s presentation here

You can read the full report published by the Bevan Foundationhere

An improved Benefit and Budgeting Calculator will enhance our user experience

We listened to over 1,000 end users, sat down with eight different clients and worked closely with an inclusion charity to improve out software. We learnt that we need to enhance the User Interface and improve the overall user experience, particularly on mobile and for people with accessibility requirements. This is exactly what we have done, making the product more accessible and easier to use whilst retaining its accuracy and detail.

On Monday 5 July we will be re-launching our Benefit and Budgeting Calculator with improved user interface and user experience changes.

Thank you to Nesta for funding these improvements as part of their Rapid Recovery Challenge!

You can watch a demo video of the changes we have made here

Ask to be notified of the calculator redesign

We were featured in June’s Big Issue

With the end of the furlough scheme looming, it is important that we work to make sure people no longer miss out on important support they are eligible for. In June, the Big Issue ran an article on You could be entitled to free money – here’s how: Take control of your finances and maximise your income.

Deven Ghelani, our Founder and Director, said: “Many people have suffered financial hardship as a result of the pandemic and have needed the support of the welfare system, perhaps for the first time. When I first had to claim, I found the system was complex, confusing and I missed out on support. That’s why I started Policy in Practice, and built a free benefits calculator to help people understand what support you can claim to get back on your feet.”

We were delighted to be mentioned as one of the recommended services to provide a free budgeting and benefits calculator. We would like to thank the Big Issue for highlighting our work in the article which you can read in full here.

Update: Tech for Good Entrepreneur of the Year Award

We were delighted and very proud that Deven Ghelani, Founder and Director at Policy in Practice, was shortlisted for Tech for Good Entrepreneur of the Year Award in this year’s Digital Leaders Impact Awards.

Deven came runner-up, alongside Joy Foster. Whilst we were disappointed he didn’t nab the top spot, we would like to say a huge congratulations to Alex Stephany, Founder of Beam, for winning the award. We have worked closely with Beam in the past year and couldn’t think of a worthier winner for this award.

Deven said, “Huge thanks to the Impact Awards for the nomination, and to all of the team at Policy in Practice for the hard work that makes all of this work worthwhile - was great to be nominated and as you can see Esha and Vidhya really enjoyed being a part of it too! Congratulations to Alex who is driving a really important initiative - we are very excited to see what you do in the future.”

Register for our upcoming Steering Groups in July

The time has come, once again, for our clients to join our steering groups. This is our chance to hear from our clients firsthand on how we can improve our products and services. We welcome your views on what we are doing well and areas we can focus on and encourage you to sign up to join us.

The LIFT platform Steering Group will take place on Thursday 29 July at 10am . Please register to join us here.

The Benefit and Budgeting Calculator Steering Group will take place on Thursday 29 July at 2pm. Please register to join us here.

Read about our previous steering groups below:

Future free webinars
All our webinars are free and run from 10.30 to 11.45

Back to normal: coping when Covid-19 welfare support is withdrawn
Wednesday 21 July. Details and register here

In response to the devastating impact that Covid-19 has had on the economy the government invested significant resources in supporting people whose income has been affected by the pandemic.

As we turn the corner on tackling the virus so we're starting to see the end of the protections that were put in place. The furlough scheme is set to end on 30 September, as is the support for self-employed people, and other protections have either already ended or are set to end soon.

Yet the future for jobs and job seekers is far from certain. In this webinar we will explore the protections that are ending and the role that data can play to help local authorities identify vulnerability in advance, target support and track change.

Join this webinar to learn:

Which Covid-19 protections are ending, and when, and what this means for low-income households
What the end of the eviction ban may mean for people facing problem debt
How data can help local authorities to model demand for services in an uncertain future