An overview of Lewisham’s Universal Credit Pilot

DCLG Digital Inclusion WorkshopApril 2014

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o Lewisham is an inner London borough with a population of 282,000. This is forecast to rise to over 320,000 over the next ten years.

o Children and young people make up 25 per cent of the population– the average age of our population is 34.6 years, which is young compared to other London boroughs.

o Lewisham is the 14th most ethnically diverse local authority in England. Currently, 57% of our population are from an ethnic group other than ‘White British’.

o There are over 130 languages spoken in the borough. Of the more than 43,000 Lewisham residents who state that English is not their main language, 18 per cent cannot speak English ‘well’ or ‘at all’.

o Nearly 32,000 Lewisham residents are in receipt of out-of-work benefits (16.2 per cent of the population aged 16 to 64). This is higher than in London (13.3 per cent) and Great Britain (14.4 per cent).

o Due to the higher than average claimant rate, the Welfare Reform Act will have a greater impact on Lewisham than at national level.

About Lewisham

Benefit/Credit Amalgamated into Universal Credit

National customer base (%)

Lewisham Customer base (%)

Child Tax Credit/Working Tax credit 21.4 (of households)

23.8 (of households)

Working Tax Credit 11.9 (of households)

25.5 (of households)

Housing Benefit* 23.3 (of households)

33 (of households)

Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit

6.3 (of people)

6.7 (of people)

Income Support 3.0 (of people)

4.6 (of people)

Jobseekers Allowance 3.7 (or people)

5.0 (of people)

Sources: DWP/2011 Census (Office for National Statistics) * Caseloads as at May 2013

o Lewisham ranks 31st for deprivation (one being the most deprived). This means that as a local authority, Lewisham is within the 20 per cent most deprived Local Authorities in the country.

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After submitting a bid in 2012, Lewisham was selected as one of the 12 local authority led UC pilots. We were the only local authority in London to have been selected.

The aim of the local authority led pilots was to test the potential role for LAs in supporting the face to face universal credit delivery. In particular the pilots were expected to test some or all of the following functions:

Triage – managing claimant interaction and access to the appropriate UC channel. This includes assessing immediate need and vulnerability.

Work focus – working with DWP’s labour market services to assess commitment to work, any barriers to finding work and monitor activity to seek or increase levels of work.

Budgeting support – supporting claimants to budget effectively, provide access to support in potential hardship and where applicable identify and manage those claimants.

Online access – advocacy and other ways to achieve channel shift.

Claimant support – providing a smooth tailored service for those with on-going complex needs

Local Authority led pilots

Jan 2014

Submitted bid to DWP

Recruited secondees to the

pilot team

Design, delivery & evaluation of

Phase 1

August 2012 October 2012 Nov 12- June 13 July- Dec 13

Design, delivery of

phase 2

Evaluation and submission of

findings to DWP

Pilot timeline

Deliver

DevelopDefineDiscover

Our approach: design led transformation

DevelopDefineDiscover

Our approach: design led transformation

Discover: What our insights told us

Using the internet to manage

benefits online

62% of people regularly use Facebook

47% of people shop online

31% of people have gone online to transact with a government service

Why?‘I do use the internet but only for Facebook and stuff…I’ve never been on to find out about my benefits I’d always go and speak to the person at the office because it’s easier to make sure you have covered everything’

Zoe is a lone parent living in a social housing. She claims income support and housing benefit.

‘it’s quite a lot of responsibility if you have to do it all yourself, I know I’d be thinking, oh my god what happens if I hit the wrong button’ Kirsty, single parent, working part time and claiming HB and CTC

Discover: What our insights told us

Monthly payments

The monthly payment cycle was more favoured by people who have recently been in employment…

‘Up until very recently I was working as an IT consultant… personally I would like to receive the money monthly because that is how I am used to budgeting’ Susan, unemployed and claiming JSA and HB

Others were worried‘I know I’d need help budgeting for this, its been years since I had to manage all my money so at least in the beginning I’d want some help’ Kirsty, single parent, working part time and claiming HB and CTC

‘I’ve never had a job so I haven’t been paid monthly before. Would there be training on how all this works when they put in in?’ Kayleigh, single mother who has never worked, claims JSA, HB, CB and CTC

Discover: What our insights told us• More of the people we spoke to lived in the private

sector that in social housing

• People’s aspirations for the future are to own their own home

• Over half of the people receiving housing benefit have it paid directly to their landlord.

• Over half of the people we spoke to were unemployed.

• Nearly two thirds of those who are unemployed said they aren’t actively seeking work.

HOUSING

EMPLOYMENT

1. To develop an evidence based definition of vulnerability for transition and access to Universal Credit

2. To develop triage mechanisms for identifying and assessing individuals affected

3. To test an approach for providing a holistically locally delivered face to face transition support service which improves the ability of claimants to:

• Budget and manage monthly payments• Sustain tenancies in the social and private rented sector• Transact with government services online• Access employment and work-focused training

Needs intensive support

Can transition independentlyNeeds transitional support

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Define: The aim of our pilot

1. Letter

2. Telephone triage and online support tool

3. Face to face support appointment

4. Support plan5. On-going support for customers that need it

Develop & Deliver: We tested our model

In the second phase of the

pilot we developed this additional step

79% people do not pay any of their bills by direct debit or standing order

14% of people have existing debt on credit/ store cards or with payday loan companies

Referred for budgeting accounts via our Credit Union45% of people applied for a crisis loan in the past year

Referred for intensive debt advice at CAB

51% of people have internet access in their homes

40% of people can easily access the internet via friends or family or public computers

9% of people say they can’t access the internet

25% of face to face appointments require an interpreter

Signposted to local access & computer recycling

ESOL

86% of people have never been responsible for paying their rent

8% of 14% of people who are responsible for paying their rent are behind

Referred for budgeting accounts via our Credit Union

95% of people have not been in paid employment in the last 12 months

47% of people are not seeking employment

Mix of high/ medium and low level referrals (including to Family Budgets)

Develop & Deliver: some learning from our triage model

Develop & Deliver: Some key learning from our pilot Access to the internet and computers wasn’t as big an issue as we’d first thought it would be. From our

triage process we identified that the majority of customers either had access in their homes (not mobile) and can use it independently, or could get support from friends or family. However, the majority of respondents also said they didn’t currently use the internet for banking, job searches or benefits applications. Confidence and capability is likely to be a bigger barrier to the digital agenda than access (in cities at least).

During the lifecycle of the pilot 135 residents found work at a level that exempted them from the benefit cap. In addition to this a number of residents secured voluntary work part-time work.

Simple scripted triage is a quick and simple way to identify (at the point of application) who is likely to need transitional support. In order to make this effective triage questions should be focused on behaviours and experience, not perception and attitudes.

Some residents will need basic support in order to transition to UC. This could be provided in the form of a basic support plan with referrals to key agencies. Other residents will need more intensive and on-going support and coaching to enable them to change their lives sufficiently and enable them to transition to UC. To be effective this needs to look holistically at barriers to UC (and should therefore include digital inclusion, financial inclusion, housing and employment).

The Local Support Services Framework The learning we gained from the model we tested has been fed back to the DWP in our evaluation report.

This will be used by the DWP to develop thinking on the role LAs, alongside their partners could play in supporting residents with the transition to UC.

The DWP have begun to outline their vision for the role of LAs and Partners in the Local Support Services Framework . This also includes details of how the DWP would like to undertake further testing of some of the practical elements of supporting residents with the transition.

Ministers want to ensure the LSSF will • Ensure people are supported to make the transition to UC• Support those who will find the transition ‘difficult’

LSSF will look to support and provide• Existing / New services (specific UC)• Triage and Orientation• Online Access – ‘Digital Where Appropriate’• Financial Products Provision and Budgeting/debt advice• Welfare Benefit and Advice

Final LSSF document now expected to be published in 2015