At the edge of the safety net: Unsuccessful benefits claims at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

There has been much scrutiny of the British benefits system during COVID-19, and most experts agree that the benefits system has performed well, even if historic weaknesses remain. Yet little attention has been paid to those who start a claim that is ultimately not successful. This report focuses on these ‘unsuccessful claimants’, using new YouGov survey data and interview evidence funded by the Health Foundation

Should social security reach further? Ineligibility for benefits at the start of COVID-19

In this report, we look those who were not eligible for UC or other benefits (funded by the Health Foundation)

Lives in Transition: Returning to civilian life with a physical injury or condition. Interim report

This report presents the interim findings of an ongoing project funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) called Understanding the transition to civilian life for ex-Service personnel with physical conditions as a direct result of Service or acquired whilst in Service. This two-year project (2019–2021) represents the first substantive qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) to explore how Service leavers experience the transition to civilian life when they have left the Armed Forces with a physical injury or condition. More specifically, it aims to provide an understanding of the support and provisions that are available during the transition into civilian life (including benefits and financial compensation, education and training, employment, health and housing) and make recommendations for further or better support that could be offered to this cohort during the transition from the UK Armed Forces2. Central to our work is a desire to establish an original evidence base to inform future policy and practice. This will be achieved through two rounds of qualitative longitudinal interviews with ex-Service personnel who have left or are in the process of leaving the Armed Forces with a physical injury or condition, together with consultations with key stakeholders

Non-take-up of benefits at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

The benefits system - particularly Universal Credit (UC) - has played a major role in Britain's COVID-19 response, and it is no surprise that there has been an emphasis on how well it has responded. Most experts so far have suggested that UC has performed well, even if historic weaknesses remain. Yet the situation of those who did not claim UC has been given little attention - particularly those who were eligible for UC but did not claim it. In this report, we present the findings of exploratory research into this group, funded by the Health Foundation. We estimate there are around half a million people - our best estimate is 430,000-560,000 people - who were eligible for UC during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but did not claim it. This includes a quarter of a million (220,000) people who thought they were eligible for UC (mostly correctly) but didn't want to claim it. One-third of those who didn't want to claim said that this was because they did not need benefits. But more commonly, people hadn't applied for UC because of the perceived hassle of applying (59%), including the challenge of figuring out if they were eligible, the claims process itself, or the threat of sanctions. (Indeed, an outright majority said that conditionality would put them off applying in future). A further sizeable minority (27%) didn't claim UC because of benefits stigma. We have also estimated survey respondents' eligibility for UC - something that has never previously been done. Estimating eligibility for UC is complex and there are a number of caveats to the figure. Bearing this in mind, we estimate that 280,000-390,000 people wrongly thought they were ineligible for UC. Some people had actively considered applying for benefits and decided they weren't eligible, but mostly people just had a 'sense' that they were not eligible for anything