Title	Date	Start Time	Duration	Register
Reducing barriers to work using data led campaigns In September 2023 the UK experienced an economic inactivity rate of 21.3% and an estimated unemployment rate of 4.3%, both of which have increased compared to previous data. Economic inactivity has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, prompting government efforts to integrate this group into the workforce. Historically, policies under Universal Credit and legacy benefits emphasised pushing people into employment through conditionality and short term measures. Today, both major political parties are exploring ways to facilitate return to work and eliminate barriers to employment. However, the government is also extending conditionality and adopting a tougher stance on sanctions for a broader range of people. Haringey is home to a young, ethnically diverse population. In June 2023, almost one fifth of those between 16 to 65 were on Universal Credit. Nearly 7% of residents over 16 were claiming unemployment related benefits, a figure above the London average of 4.7% and the 3rd highest rate of all UK councils Haringey Council wanted to find ways to overcome barriers to employment for young people and families with children and has used data to achieve success with its employment support programmes. Join this webinar to learn: - The new carrot and stick policy changes designed to break down barriers to work and reduce economic inactivity - What Haringey Council did to increase take up of free childcare for two year olds to 70% - How Haringey Council successfully helped 95 NEETs on their employment journey With guest speakers from Haringey Council	29/11/2023j/n/Y	10:30 GMT2023-11-29T10:30:00ZH:i T	1.3 hours	Register
Policy review of 2023 and what 2024 may hold Join our last webinar of 2023 to hear our policy analysts review 2023's policy changes and big issues, from the ongoing cost of living and energy crises to the funding of local government and the Autumn Statement. We will highlight our policy findings from the year including our work that revealed that millions of households across the UK are missing out on £19 billion of support each year. We'll look at the role that data is playing in helping leading organisations to tackle these issues. Through case studies of different types of households we'll look at what the changes mean for families now, and what 2024 has in store. Along the way we'll share the positive impact that organisations we work with are having, and give practical solutions that others can adopt.	6/12/2023j/n/Y	10:30 GMT2023-12-06T10:30:00ZH:i T	1.3 hours	Register
How the debt sector is connecting people to support	31/1/2024j/n/Y	10:30 GMT2024-01-31T10:30:00ZH:i T	1.3 hours	Register

Title

Date

Start Time

Duration

Reducing barriers to work using data led campaigns In September 2023 the UK experienced an economic inactivity rate of 21.3% and an estimated unemployment rate of 4.3%, both of which have increased compared to previous data. Economic inactivity has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, prompting government efforts to integrate this group into the workforce.

Historically, policies under Universal Credit and legacy benefits emphasised pushing people into employment through conditionality and short term measures. Today, both major political parties are exploring ways to facilitate return to work and eliminate barriers to employment. However, the government is also extending conditionality and adopting a tougher stance on sanctions for a broader range of people.

Haringey is home to a young, ethnically diverse population. In June 2023, almost one fifth of those between 16 to 65 were on Universal Credit. Nearly 7% of residents over 16 were claiming unemployment related benefits, a figure above the London average of 4.7% and the 3rd highest rate of all UK councils

Haringey Council wanted to find ways to overcome barriers to employment for young people and families with children and has used data to achieve success with its employment support programmes.

Join this webinar to learn:

- The new carrot and stick policy changes designed to break down barriers to work and reduce economic inactivity
- What Haringey Council did to increase take up of free childcare for two year olds to 70%
- How Haringey Council successfully helped 95 NEETs on their employment journey

With guest speakers from Haringey Council

29/11/2023

10:30 GMT

1.3 hours

Policy review of 2023 and what 2024 may hold Join our last webinar of 2023 to hear our policy analysts review 2023's policy changes and big issues, from the ongoing cost of living and energy crises to the funding of local government and the Autumn Statement.

We will highlight our policy findings from the year including our work that revealed that millions of households across the UK are missing out on £19 billion of support each year.

We'll look at the role that data is playing in helping leading organisations to tackle these issues.

Through case studies of different types of households we'll look at what the changes mean for families now, and what 2024 has in store.

Along the way we'll share the positive impact that organisations we work with are having, and give practical solutions that others can adopt.

6/12/2023

10:30 GMT

1.3 hours

How the debt sector is connecting people to support

31/1/2024

10:30 GMT

1.3 hours

Kent county and district councils collaborate with data to tackle poverty

Download case study

CLIENT:
Kent County Council

SECTOR:
Local Authority

PRODUCTS USED:
LIFT Dashboard

Product brochure

12

district councils collaborating with Kent County Council

50

poverty prevention campaigns completed or underway

£1,232,898

extra income delivered to Kent residents so far

Kent County Council was shortlisted in the Digital Impact category at the LGC Awards 2022. Their work collaborating with district councils using administrative data to tackle poverty was applauded by the judges, who said:

“Great to see joint leadership from a county and district councils on tackling poverty. A fantastic use of the Policy in Practice insights platform.

Here’s how Kent County and district councils worked together to put over £1 million and counting into the hands of financially vulnerable residents.

The challenge

Kent County Council, together with 12 district councils, supports 1.6 million residents.

A number of Kent residents were already financially vulnerable before Covid-19 and the onset of the pandemic pushed more into hardship. At the same time council budgets had come under more pressure due to extra costs and increased demand in areas such as housing.

This meant there were two core groups of residents that Kent Council was eager to identify, engage and support:

Vulnerable residents already known to the councils
Residents not known to the councils who had been affected by the restrictions on the economy or social isolation, such as the newly unemployed

Between the county and the 12 districts, all administrative data existed on separate systems, with revenues and benefits, council tax and rent arrears data stored separately. This meant that proactively identifying those who needed support across the county was a monumental task.

The solution

In a first for local government Kent County Council and district councils collaborated by sharing data insights to answer these challenges. This approach is helping councils to proactively identify people eligible for support sooner.

Knowing that the financial situation for residents was particularly unstable at that time, Kent county and district councils boldly chose to collaboratively share their data to get powerful cross-county insights to drive their poverty prevention activity. In practice, this involved the district councils sharing their administrative data with Policy in Practice, for use in a new Living Standards Index (LSI) built specifically for Kent.

The LSI-Kent platform allows those with upper-tier oversight to see changes at a district level and target support accordingly. Users can track Council Tax support spend across all districts, compare caseloads and see benchmarks to assess local demand. They can drill right down to household level to accurately target support.

Importantly, the project has transparency built-in so that councils can very easily benchmark with each other to identify and share best practices in a safe, collaborative way.

Districts have the data, knowledge and expertise. County has size and scale. We had to combine the best of us to come up with something that’s going to help many in a positive way.

Zena Cooke, Director of Corporate Finance, Kent County Council

The impact

Better use of data leads to more effective preventative poverty campaigns. The information revealed by the council’s data is now driving 50 poverty prevention campaigns at different stages of delivery, with 25 campaigns completed in 2021-22.

The results for residents, councils and local government are impressive:

The campaigns have delivered £1,232,898 of extra income to Kent residents so far
The work has shown how county and district councils can work collaboratively with data to benefit residents, and reduce future costs to the council
The collaborative approach and the remarkable results are easily replicable across other county and district councils

The data-driven campaigns are helping to target a wide range of support to vulnerable residents across free school meal take-up, employment support, public health interventions, housing initiatives and welfare benefits.

The benefits are felt internally too. Learning between county and district is key, with bi-monthly strategic meetings in place to share best practice. Objectives are also reviewed monthly in order to align with local needs.

The Low-Income Family Tracker (LIFT) was a no-brainer because we knew that what we could do with it would be far more longer term and sustainable than just something that was an immediate reaction to the pandemic.

Zena Cooke, Director of Corporate Finance, Kent County Council