Policy in Practice is a social policy software and analytics company working with councils, government, housing providers and community organisations. We are a team of policy experts who combine cutting-edge tech, insightful data and expert analysis. We help organisations analyse the impact of policy, identify and engage the people impacted, and track the effectiveness of interventions.
Our award winning Benefit and Budgeting calculator, linked to from GOV.UK, helps around 10,000 people every day find out what support they may be eligible for. Our data analytics services help organisations find relationships in datasets and visualise the drivers of poverty. We use our policy expertise to drive change via evidence, publications and media.
With LIFT we can see our caseload changing and the different types of households that are being impacted by the economic downturns. This lets us understand how we can reflect our support to match the impact that’s occurring as people move off housing benefit and predominantly onto Universal Credit as they become made redundant. We can be specific with our targeting of resources of help, which we wouldn’t be able to do without the LIFT Dashboard.
Clive Jones, Luton Borough Council
You can explain benefit entitlements but people may not fully grasp the numbers. Having the Benefit and Budgeting Calculator as a mechanism to visually explain the breakdown of entitlements using colour coded charts really helps as it’s something people can relate to.
Grant Bailey, Cheltenham Borough Homes
The Motor Neurone Disease Association is the only national charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland focused on improving access to care, research and campaigning for people living with MND. We want to understand how the introduction of Universal Credit will affect people living with MND, their carers and their families, in order to inform the advocacy, advice and support we provide around this issue. Policy in Practice’s expertise and insight will help us to ensure we can continue to provide the best possible support to all those affected by MND who are impacted by the transition to Universal Credit.
Too many communities still suffer from a toxic mix of low pay, insecure work and unemployment. I’m delighted we’re partnering with Policy in Practice to help organisations deliver ever better services that support those who need it most.
I have really enjoyed working with Policy in Practice and the Welfare Reform Club. Policy in Practice have used their strong analytical capability, supplemented by the experience and insight of the Welfare Reform Club, to help Leeds City Council to make better strategic and operational decisions.
The Children’s Society commissioned Policy in Practice to examine the barriers and solutions to the sharing of data on new born children in local authority areas. Their report delivered practical guidance, based on real-world practice on the ground. Policy in Practice were a pleasure to work with, they were effective, diligent and timely and we would definitely work with them in the future.
The level of contact and engagement throughout was very impressive, as was the technical ability of the Policy in Practice team.
Any software is only as good as its implementation and the support we’ve had from the team to bed in the new service has been a massive benefit to us.
We take partnership working very seriously and we only work with organisations who we genuinely feel can make a difference. Policy in Practice very much falls into this category.
Stephen is Director of Policy at the Legatum Institute and, since 2015, has been an Advisor to the Saudi Government. He has been a Director at Social Finance; and advised the DWP from 2010 to 2013. Prior to joining DWP, Stephen spent 15 years at Oliver Wyman, where he was a Partner. He is a board member of the Centre for Social Justice and also of Social Finance Digital Labs, and a member of the UK Social Metrics Commission. He is the author of Dynamic Benefits (the blueprint for Universal Credit) and Outcome-based Government.
Martin Leuw is a digital, social entrepreneur and active investor with hands on experience of early stage, corporate ventures and high growth businesses. He is the Chairman of Clearswift and Leathwaite and former Group CEO (2001-2011) of IRIS Software Group, where he drove growth from subscription revenues of £9m to over £120m per annum. A regular awards judge for programmes such as Big Venture Challenge, Martin is also a columnist for business magazines as well as The Times and Daily Telegraph. He won EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Communications & Technology, 2006, and is an Enterprise Fellow at the Prince’s Trust.
Mark started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories focusing on systems and economic modelling. His over 25 year career in telecommunications spanned leadership roles in Sales, Business Development and Product Management covering the UK, EMEA, North America and AP/China. Mark’s focus continues to be on supporing and developng new business opportunities with compelling social value. He is an UnLtd. mentor and advisor at Citizen’s Advice.
Alexander Stevenson co-founded RSe Consulting, a public sector consultancy specialising in Local Government which was bought by Tribal Group. He is the author of ‘Public Sector: Managing the Unmanageable’. He is also a trustee of the Young Foundation and Chair of Create Streets.
Sean Williams started his career in the employment support sector, working as a frontline Unemployment Advisor in Brent, London. Since then, he has worked in research, policy, business development and operational management for some of the largest, most successful public service providers in the UK. He was Managing Director of G4S Employment Services until 2014, and left to support initiatives he was passionate about.
