underclaimed benefits Archives - Policy in Practice

Title	Date	Start Time	Duration	Register
Data driven success: From tackling homelessness to unlocking £1m income and recovering over £550k of debt More families struggled to pay their rent after COVID-19 and, as a result, Bracknell Forest Council saw an increase of 750% in the number of families who approached as homeless, up from 120 to 909 in four years. The council initially bought Policy in Practice’s LIFT platform in 2021 to tackle rising homelessness. Using LIFT, the council harnessed the power of its administrative data to identify residents for support. Notable campaigns include the timely allocation of over £4,000 in Discretionary Housing Payments and over £8,000 in emergency support to 31 households. But household financial health took another hit from the cost of living crisis and, by March 2022, two in ten families found paying bills a burden and were regularly in arrears. A proactive shift by a council officer extended LIFT's data driven approach from the homelessness team to other departments, with great results. The LIFT approach had proven its ability to identify residents at risk and allocate scarce resources. With more demand for council services, LIFT offered a way to give preventative support at scale across the borough. Join this webinar to learn: - The steps one officer took to get wider adoption of using data to tackle vulnerability across the council - In depth results from seven benefit take up campaigns that saw arrears of £550,000 reduced and missed income of £820,000 secured - Highlights from brand new analysis on unclaimed benefits and support in the UK in 2024 and what you can do about it	24/4/2024j/n/Y	10:30 BST2024-04-24T09:30:00ZH:i T	1.3 hours	Register

Title

Date

Start Time

Duration

Data driven success: From tackling homelessness to unlocking £1m income and recovering over £550k of debt More families struggled to pay their rent after COVID-19 and, as a result, Bracknell Forest Council saw an increase of 750% in the number of families who approached as homeless, up from 120 to 909 in four years.

The council initially bought Policy in Practice’s LIFT platform in 2021 to tackle rising homelessness.

Using LIFT, the council harnessed the power of its administrative data to identify residents for support. Notable campaigns include the timely allocation of over £4,000 in Discretionary Housing Payments and over £8,000 in emergency support to 31 households.

But household financial health took another hit from the cost of living crisis and, by March 2022, two in ten families found paying bills a burden and were regularly in arrears.

A proactive shift by a council officer extended LIFT's data driven approach from the homelessness team to other departments, with great results.

The LIFT approach had proven its ability to identify residents at risk and allocate scarce resources. With more demand for council services, LIFT offered a way to give preventative support at scale across the borough.

Join this webinar to learn:

- The steps one officer took to get wider adoption of using data to tackle vulnerability across the council
- In depth results from seven benefit take up campaigns that saw arrears of £550,000 reduced and missed income of £820,000 secured
- Highlights from brand new analysis on unclaimed benefits and support in the UK in 2024 and what you can do about it

24/4/2024

10:30 BST

1.3 hours

Webinar: How councils can recover from COVID-19

Deven Ghelani and Terrin Mathew present two new policy modelling approaches to help councils look to post COVID-19 recovery.

Webinar: How to simplify the complexity of surplus earnings

Sue McCarron shares how frontline staff at Citizens Advice Wirral use the Better Off Calculator to support customers with fluctuating incomes.

Is your post COVID-19 Council Tax Support Scheme sustainable?

In this webinar, Zoe Charlesworth presented new nationwide analysis on the Hardship Fund allocations and discussed what this means for collection rates. Megan Mclean explored what this means for those who become newly unemployed, as well as CTR support schemes. Finally, Deven Ghelani looked at what councils can do now to proactively support people.

Coronavirus: stories from the frontline

Ellie Kershaw, Tower Hamlets and Grant Bailey, Cheltenham Borough Homes discuss the past and present and how the crisis now will affect their residents in the future.

May Recap of the major benefits changes and Coronavirus

In this webinar Policy in Practice’s Head of Policy, Zoe Charlesworth, gives a comprehensive recap of the major changes to the welfare system. We were joined by special guest Victoria Todd, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, who updated us on the latest changes to tax credits.

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Missing out 2024: £23 billion of support goes unclaimed each year

Back to work? How a tougher conditionality regime risks moving people away from employment

Spring Budget 2024: Marginal tax rates improved for low earners and families but more to do

People of pension age may be missing out on £5.2 billion

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