ADD2373 Migration of Londoners on to Universal Credit

1.1 Universal Credit (UC) is the Government’s flagship welfare policy, replacing six separate benefits (‘legacy benefits’) with a single monthly payment in arrears . The way in which UC has been implemented has been reported as causing hardship for many claimants, both in London and the rest of the UK.

1.2 Over 400,000 people in London and Essex are currently claiming the new benefit (which is the highest number of any region in the UK) . The roll out of UC to all Jobcentres in the country was completed in December 2018. The start of the process of ‘managed migration’ – where a claimant of legacy benefits is moved onto UC, without any change in circumstances such as moving home – is currently being trialled in Harrogate. In the meantime, legacy benefit claimants are usually required to make a new claim for UC if they have a change of circumstances. This is known as ‘natural migration’.

1.3 Multiple factors have contributed to UC not working as intended, including central government cuts to core funding and underlying problems with the IT system .Evidence has shown that delays to payments and problems with the claim process have in some cases pushed vulnerable people unnecessarily to the brink of homelessness . New claimants to UC are all signposted to the Citizens Advice ‘Help to Claim’ service , but we know that many are still being supported by small voluntary and community sector organisations who will struggle to navigate the migration process.

1.4 The process of natural migration has its own specific problems, including the absence of any transitional protections that people who go through managed migration process will receive. This can result in a sudden drop of income, as well as the absence of proactive support in making the new claim for UC.

1.5 Some problems with UC specifically affect recipients of legacy disability benefits such as Employment & Support Allowance (ESA). For example, ESA claimants who are required to make a new claim for UC are supposed to move onto the new benefit’s equivalent level of support without having to undergo a new work capability assessment (WCA). But there is anecdotal evidence that some claimants are incorrectly being required to undergo a WCA when they should not have to. This can be a distressing and unsupported experience for benefit claimants – especially those with mental health conditions .

1.6 The Mayor of London has warned that the Government’s proposals for roll out of UC pose a significant threat of harm being caused on a much larger scale . He has also committed to do everything in his power to support disabled Londoners, including by advocating on their behalf on issues relating to welfare benefits. The recent findings from the GLA’s cumulative impact assessment of welfare reforms showed that London households where someone is disabled they stand to lose out substantially as a result of tax and benefit changes. The Mayor wrote to the Secretary of State to raise the results of this analysis and to call for policy changes as a result .

1.7 GLA are keen to understand how the Mayor could complement this activity and play a more active role in supporting the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations that assist claimants in navigating the welfare benefits system. This ADD builds on MD2461 which delegated authority for approving expenditure within the overall spending envelope for Communities & Social Policy Programme Budget.

2.1 The objective is to clarify the role the GLA can play in supporting organisations who are helping disability benefit recipients to claim UC or navigate the UC migration process.

2.2 Specific tasks will include mapping the organisations working with JobCentre Plus in London to support claimants of ESA currently migrating onto UC and identify messages or resources which could assist these organisations in delivering this support.

2.3 The results will help the GLA provide further support to low-income and Disabled Londoners, as well as the VCS organisations set up to support them. It may also inform further insight into how UC should be rolled out in London which the Mayor can call on the Department for Work and Pensions to enact.

2.4 The immediate outputs expected from the research will be a written summary, main report of findings and slide deck setting out key findings and recommendations. The successful bidder will also be expected to provide a verbal briefing on the proposals to the Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s Office and relevant stakeholders.

2.5 The project outcome will be a clearer understanding of the role the Mayor can play in achieving his objective to better support Disabled Londoners and reduce the inequalities they face in terms of financial hardship.

3.1 Recent research conducted by GLA demonstrates the disproportionate financial difficulties facing Disabled Londoners. The Survey of Londoners found that Disabled Londoners were disadvantaged on all the economic fairness measures it examined. 25% cannot keep their homes warm in the winter and 37% report debt repayments as a serious burden. This adds to the findings already uncovered by the GLA’s Cumulative Impact Assessment.

3.2 The Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy contains a number of specific objectives which broadly align with particular aspects of the aims of this project:

Objective 5 – Homelessness: “To work with councils, government, the voluntary sector and communities to make preventing homelessness a priority and make sure that people who lose their home are helped into sustainable accommodation.”

• Our stakeholders have reported that many Deaf and Disabled people are destitute, unable to pay for food, fuel and rent because of UC .

Objective 13 - Child poverty: “To work with government, boroughs… to help address the root causes of child poverty. These include… the welfare system.”

• This is informed by evidence that some BAME groups, migrants and families with non-working mothers are at greater risk of living in poverty; and that women and children – especially those from BAME groups – and disabled people have lost out from welfare reforms.

• The findings of the GLA’s cumulative impact assessment of welfare reforms show that households with children will lose the most of all household types – particularly those households headed by lone parents. The impact assessment also found that child poverty would be significantly higher in London.

Objective 33 – Physical health: “To lead, and help co-ordinate, work to understand and address health inequalities and support at-risk communities to increase their health skills, knowledge and confidence.”

• This is informed by evidence of the link between welfare reforms and issues such as food poverty and debt and mental health issues. These aspects of poverty have been linked to UC and will have knock-on effects for physical health.

3.3 The evidence gathered from the Survey of Londoners, Cumulative Impact Assessment, as well as that underlying the EDI Strategy, demonstrates the need to focus on the financial hardship disproportionately affecting Disabled Londoners. This project would therefore support the GLA’s Public Sector Equality Duty to advance equality of opportunity.

3.4 The GLA will ensure that the procurement meets the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Links to Other Mayoral Strategies and Priorities

4.1 Links to other work on poverty impacting on Disabled Londoners include:

• The Economic Development Strategy which considers how the high costs of living in London can create barriers and how those on lower incomes often pay more for essential goods and services (a poverty premium) – which again disproportionately affects disabled households.

• Fuel Poverty Action Plan –Disabled people are one of the key groups where fuel poverty is a concern.

• A recently established Economic Fairness team at City Hall that deliver a range of pledges through an Economic Fairness work programme. This team also convenes the Economic Fairness Steering Group.

• The Food Strategy which includes a specific section on reducing food insecurity, considering the role of poverty and inequality in what we eat.

• Health Inequalities Strategy which considers the wider determinants of health, including wealth and income.

Risk Management

4.2 Consultants could experience difficulty working with Jobcentre Plus and infrastructure organisations. To mitigate this risk, as part of the tender process we will consider how applicants have experience of engaging with the benefits infrastructure landscape, or equivalent sectors. We will use connections through the GLA to help the consultant contact relevant agencies.

4.3 This research risks being seen as a bid to undermine Government policies. However, the GLA can point to evidence indicating that the migration onto UC has posed problems for Disabled Londoners and should be investigated further.

Conflicts of interest

4.4 There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of those involved in the drafting or clearance of the decision.

5.1 Approval is being sought for expenditure of up to £20,000 to procure consultancy services to produce a report on the migration of Londoners on to the Universal Credit benefits system.

5.2 This expenditure will be funded from the Social Mobility Low-income Londoners 2019/20 programme budget, held within the Communities and Social Policy unit.