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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

Universal Credit pathfinder evaluation.

Gareth Morgan
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CEO, Ferret, Cardiff

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This piece of work is interesting but hardly illuminating.  For example, the summary says,

“Around three quarters of UC claimants were confident in their ability to budget
the monthly payment. Very few reported seeking help or advice to manage their money. A large majority of UC and JSA survey respondents reported that they were keeping up with bills and commitments
...
Where claimants did report requiring extra funds to cover their budgeting needs, UC claimants were more likely than JSA claimants to draw on support from family and friends.
....
Given the eligibility criterion applied under UC Pathfinder, there were very few claimants with housing costs. “

So most claimants are young people still living at home, who can tap their parents for cash?

The communications strategy with claimants, for this simple benefit, is clearly working well.  The government have said that people on Universal Credit will have no need of advice as they will be able to easily see how much better off they will be in work - “... over forty per cent of UC claimants surveyed did not know that people on low incomes can still receive UC no matter how many hours they are working, and the in depth research found understanding of how work would impact on UC payment was limited.”

Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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There is the sharp smack of self-congratulation and ‘good news’ culture here, as there is in the other recent UC report.

‘The majority of UC claimants made their claim online (90%)’ – meaningless surely, as little other choice was probably offered and most claimants were young unemployed persons who are more likely to have IT skills?

‘UC claimants were increasingly more likely to have a positive outlook on the availability of jobs in their area than those on JSA’ – what in Hades is this supposed to mean? That people on JSA are by nature more dour or something? Or that part of the job of the Work Coach is to say ‘Cheer up mate it may never ‘appen’ and dig ‘em in the ribs?

‘There was a consistent and statistically significant difference in the hours UC claimants reported spending searching for work: nearly twice as many hours as JSA ‘– this is meaningless as claimants are forced to look for work 35 hours a week under UC. Still doesn’t make it a realistic thing to do.

Some sinister language creeps in - some claimants felt that UC had helped with job searching because of ‘The experience of claiming UC acting as a ‘short sharp shock’. That was the language used in the 80s to discuss punishments for young offenders. No doubt having received their shock, they went and wrote thank-you letters.

‘Around two thirds of UC claimants felt that attending review meetings had helped or was helping them to find work. Just a quarter felt it had not helped.’  - a mere 25% eh? Ignore ‘em.

Gareth Morgan
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CEO, Ferret, Cardiff

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There are a couple of errors in the summary as well, it’s Personal Independence Payment not ‘independent’ and, in the list of people who can’t get Universal Credit in the pathfinder areas they include those “represented by a Personal Acting Body/Citizens Advice Bureau”. I suspect that someone didn’t realise that CAB can also mean a Corporate Acting Body.

Rehousing Advice.
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Homeless Unit - Southampton City Council

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Gareth Morgan - 23 October 2014 12:50 PM

So most claimants are young people still living at home, who can tap their parents for cash?


I think you have this wrong way round, most young people who move out, end up trying to top up their Housing Costs out of other benefits. They are forced into high cost private accommodation, where they have to top up their LHA even in poor quality HMO type of accommodation…...

YOung people prioritise their housing cost to avoid eviction so develop other debts. They also (not having had the chance to develop “savings”) have been badly hit by the abolition of crisis loans as their employment tends to be less stable.

So its simply a case that those that stay at home are faced by less financial presuure.

Its a shame to get in the way of the normal…. bank of mum and dad stuff.  But someone must do it.