“Hidden behind walls of admin” Bevan Foundation adds lived experience to our recommendations for Welsh benefits

Awareness, demanding application processes and complex eligibility criteria are hampering benefit take up in Wales. A new report by the Bevan Foundation, Making the case for Welsh Benefits – people’s experiences, adds crucial lived experience to the work Policy in Practice conducted that recommends changes to benefits in Wales.

In a major win for low income households, the Welsh government has agreed with our recommendations to use data proactively and improve access to the Welsh benefits system to deliver more than £70 million a year to eligible households.

Giving voices to people who should benefit from benefits, the new report from the Bevan Foundation brings home the need to listen to experts by experience, leading to powerful insight:

The onus should not be on families, the onus should be on government and pushing these entitlements out.

A teacher responding to the National Education Union Cymru (NEU) survey of teachers in Wales

Improving access to Welsh benefits

The Bevan Foundation has been working to improve access to benefits, particularly benefits designed by the Welsh government, including Council Tax Reduction (CTR). With many Welsh households missing out on up to £4,000 a year, this work highlights the importance of these benefits and the need to increase ease of access to awards.

In Spring 2023 Policy in Practice was commissioned by the Bevan Foundation to examine the practicalities of a Welsh benefit system from a data perspective. Our report showed that increasing access to benefits could put £70 million a year in the pockets of low income Welsh households. The Welsh government has accepted in principle the recommendations from the report and is working with stakeholders to implement change.

To illustrate the urgent need to ease access to benefits and remove barriers, the Bevan Foundation has also gathered lived experience from residents. A report on these experiences has now been released and illustrates the barriers to accessing the much needed benefit support that is available.

A number of clients have been unaware that they are entitled to the council tax reduction benefit and have arrears due to being unable to pay.

Insights shared by a representative of a foodbank

Lack of awareness of Welsh benefits remains a leading cause of low take up

People don’t know what they can access and what they are eligible for. I think it is assumed people know, but we don’t.

Alice, mother supported by Home Start Cymru

Source: YouGov survey undertaken on behalf of the Bevan Foundation, July 2023

Awareness of benefits across the Welsh population is low. This low awareness includes benefits with equivalent benefits across the UK. These include CTR (58% of the population are aware) and Healthy Start (41% of the population are aware).

I didn’t have a clue what I could access. Without Hazell (a Home Start Support Cymru Co-ordinator), I wouldn’t of known about most of the schemes I’m on now. I didn’t know about the support I could get for uniform and free school meals for a while until the school told me…

Natasha, mother of six children from Blackwood, supported by Home Start Cymru

The research found that awareness was slightly higher for people on low incomes and those with children under 18. One key message from the research is that residents did not understand the full range of benefits available to them nor how to access these.

The findings from lived experience of benefit awareness can be used by all UK councils to target awareness campaigns, particularly where English may be a second language:

Our families are mostly English second language and have little internet access and understanding of the system.

A teacher responding to the NEU survey of teachers in Wales

The lived experience report found that even where residents were aware of benefits, they had to overcome other barriers to accessing support. These included complex application processes and different eligibility criteria for each benefit or allowance.

Trying to sort council tax reduction was an absolute nightmare. I was bounced around by so many people.

Alice, mother supported by Home Start Cymru

These findings are relevant across the UK given that residents in all regions often have to complete separate forms and meet differing eligibility criteria for each allowance or grant. Being able to access information on the internet is not always the solution:

I’m dyslexic so I really struggle with the online form system. My broadband is very unreliable too. I have to keep logging in and out a lot of the time as my signal just cuts.

Alice, mother supported by Home Start Cymru

Giving voice to Policy in Practice’s recommendations

A Welsh benefits system would prevent people from missing out on the benefits and grants that they are entitled to. Many of the most vulnerable and financially excluded people are missing out on what they are entitled to.

A huge amount of time and money is present supporting people to apply for grants and benefits. This could be minimised by having a Welsh benefits system. It would make life easier for those already struggling in their lives.

Insights shared by a representative of a foodbank

Our work with the Bevan Foundation gave recommendations to improve access to benefits in Wales and to ease the barriers identified through the lived experience research. These included:

• Identify eligibility and target support. The building blocks for a uniform approach to the identification of eligibility already exist. This could optimise the use of the Universal Credit Data Share, use proven tools such as Policy in Practice’s LIFT platform, and build on current good practice within councils and other organisations
• Introduce greater uniformity in the application for benefits
• Automate applications, such as for CTR, where the data exists to do so

In the longer term we recommended additional changes to ease access to benefits:

• CTR scheme design should take account of automation and maximise the use of data shared with councils by the DWP
• The DWP should share more data with councils to give greater visibility of residents in financial need

The Bevan Foundation’s report is a sobering read for practitioners and policymakers as it gives voice to people and communities who fall through the cracks in a system that is designed to support the most vulnerable. It is an important read, as it reminds us of the impact our work can have:

It’s (the Welsh benefits system) got to see us working class people as people. It doesn’t see us as people, it doesn’t recognise our circumstances or what makes us us.

Karen, single mother of 4, works part time – Interviewed at Hope Pantry, Merthyr

Priorities for local authorities

As the Welsh government considers how to put our recommendations for the Welsh benefits system into action, councils across the UK can act to support their residents now.

With £19 billion of support going unclaimed every year across the UK, supporting low income residents to access welfare support is a priority for public health, economic health, social care and NHS services, all of which benefit when the funds that are intended to help reach the people who are eligible and entitled.

We recommend that people use a free, reputable benefits calculator approved by GOV.UK, like Policy in Practice’s Better Off Calculator, to do a benefits check. A professional version is available for frontline advisors.

Policy in Practice helps local authorities across the UK to proactively target support using their administrative data and, with more than £250 million in increased benefits delivered in the last year, the impact that is being achieved is life changing.

Next steps

• Free webinar: Join the Bevan Foundation to hear the latest insights on Welsh benefits on Tuesday 16 January from 1300. Details here
• Read report: Making the case for a Welsh Benefits System – people’s experiences
• Read report: A common approach to Welsh Benefits – a feasibility study