Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

UK households are missing out on £19 BILLION/year in unclaimed welfare benefits.

The complexity of the benefits system, lack of public awareness, & fear of being perceived as “benefit scroungers” all contribute to the high level of unclaimed or underclaimed benefits.

Maximising income through the take up of benefits is essential to support households during the #costoflivingcrisis & prevent further financial crises.

Universal credit makes up 41% of the UK's £19 BILLION in unpaid benefits.

policyinpractice.co.uk/wp-content/upl…

£7.5 billion of Universal Credit goes unclaimed by 1.2 million eligible households.

Caseload take up varies between 70% & 90% for national means tested benefits.

Council Tax Support is the most underclaimed, with 2.7 million people missing out on £2.8 billion of support.

Social tariffs are also significantly underclaimed. Broadband social tariffs have the lowest take up, with 97% of eligible households missing out on the tariffs.

People on means tested benefits should check for eligibility with their utility providers.

The sheer complexity of multiple application mechanisms, administering organisations, eligibility criteria and conditionality creates a barrier for many people who are trying to navigate the system and access support.

Many claimants are simply unaware that they can claim support given their circumstances or income.

However, negative perceptions around claiming benefits discourage eligible people from engaging in the benefit system.

Inadequacy of means tested benefits is driving a growing plethora of discretionary and other support schemes.

This creates postcode lotteries for available support and unequal conditions to access it.

It estimates that 1.3 MILLION households are eligible for but do not take up the UK’s main working-age benefit, universal credit, resulting in £7.5 BILLION going unclaimed each year.

Nearly 3 MILLION eligible families do not claim council tax support (£2.9 BILLION).

5 MILLION households miss out on nearly £2 BILLION of support for water, energy and broadband bills.

So what can - and should - be done about it?

Recommendations for policymakers:

1. Address the insufficiency of social security benefits: Inadequate benefit levels contribute to an ever-increasing web of support, used to fill the gaps in the mainstream system. Benefits should cover the essential needs of a household.

2. Reduce complexity and increase awareness of local and national benefits: The DWP should be made responsible for increasing take-up of support. Data sharing can streamline access to support and raise awareness of benefits at all points of contact with the household.

3. Change the messaging around benefits: Government messaging is critical to ensuring that all those that are eligible access support. We urge the government to adopt a supportive approach towards claimants by lessening conditionality.

The stigma & shame attached to claiming benefits is a major factor driving non take up amongst those who are eligible but who choose not to engage with the benefit system at all.

Ben Baumberg, Kate Bell, & Declan Gaffney found that one in four survey respondents gave at least one stigma-related reason for delaying or not claiming benefits they were eligible for.

eprints.lse.ac.uk/48556/1/__Libf…

They suggest this perception is driven by an increase in the prevalence of misleading & negative media coverage, especially reports that focus on reciprocity and effort on the part of benefit claimants.

poverty.ac.uk/report-benefit…

Most people do not think that that most claimants are fraudulent, false, or scroungers – indeed, even most Conservative voters don’t think this.

Even the DWP has said that the negative perception of Universal Credit as it was introduced contributes to lower levels of take up.

The pandemic and current #costoflivingcrisis is helping to change attitudes to benefits. Many more people have had to claim support as they have faced unemployment and problems with financial resilience.

A majority of people in the UK now support increased spending on social security, whilst 4 in 5 disagree that claiming benefits is something people should be ashamed of.
ft.com/content/bc0738…

Reluctance to claim due to stigma is therefore less likely to be about what we ourselves think about benefit claimants, and more to do with perceptions of what others might think of us if we were to claim.

huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/suella-b…

Some benefits, such as Child Benefit, have lower levels of stigma & see higher take up as a result.

In-work benefits, such as tax credits, attract less stigma as claimants cannot be accused of ‘choosing’ to remain on benefits rather than working.

thelondoneconomic.com/news/who-is-le…

A related factor behind the non-take up of benefits is the deliberate barriers in the system that act as gatekeepers to access, which journalist Sam Freedman refers to as 'ordeals'.

samf.substack.com/p/ordeals-and-…

Examples include arduous disability assessments and the threat of sanctions inherent in-work search conditionality, which too often have catastrophic consequences.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1568167352524591104?s=20

Whilst there is political debate around whether it is ethical to base eligibility on people’s behaviour, Freedman says about such measures: “They often don’t work, usually because the policy designer has misunderstood the motivations of those in need.”

ox.ac.uk/event/bad-bets…

Negative activation policies, as opposed to positive measures eg skills training, imply claimants need to be coerced to look for work. Intended to ensure people don’t receive benefits they're not entitled to, they can prevent those eligible from claiming.

bigissue.com/news/social-ju…

Recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlighted the deterrent effect that work search conditionality has on claiming benefits for unemployed single parents, which "produces fiscal savings indistinguishable from zero."

ifs.org.uk/sites/default/…

Many are unwilling or unable to deal with stringent conditionality rules & the threat of sanctions, especially when periods of unemployment are anticipated to be short-term. Furthermore, forcing people into jobs they aren’t suited for has damaging effects.
theconversation.com/way-to-work-sc…

Similarly, Working Tax Credit recipients have been reluctant to migrate to Universal credit due to ever stricter requirements & the imposition of greater conditionality, whether actual or perceived.

theconversation.com/universal-cred…

This #THREAD is based on the report 'Missing out: £19 billion of support goes unclaimed each year', by @policy_practice - "a social policy software & analytics company working with councils, government, housing providers & community organisations."

policyinpractice.co.uk