Impact of welfare reform in London

The Greater London Authority held an event last week on welfare reform and its impacts in Greater London.

Various presentations were made on issues such as the overall geography of welfare benefit cuts (Prof. Chris Hamnett of King’s College), housing (Debra Levison, GLA) employment and skills (Andy Gates, GLA), work incentrives and local authorities (Ian Jones and Philip Clifford, London Councils) and childcare (Kate Groucutt, DayCare Trust).

We heard how the economic situation has given the government an excuse to push such wide ranging reforms through (with a perception of a significant degree of public support), that changes to Local Housing Allowance will disproportionately affect London tenants, although Universal Credit is predicted to be an even bigger issue for many households, and real fears that labour market incentives will be undermined (modelling suggests that someone moving into full-time work from UC in London could actually lose money).

Copies of their presentations are now available via the GLA website The Impact of Welfare Reform in London

Also, here’s a blog post on welfare reforms and London Two cities in one