Becca Stacey

Great to see coverage of the 5 week wait in @the-independent.com, highlighting new Citizens Advice analysis of the huge scale of this issue

⚠️800,000 households repaying loans to DWP only needed because of 5 week wait for 1st UC payment

⚠️0.5M+ children growing up in households repaying these loans

DWP plans to introduce a ‘support conversation’ for disabled claimants who don’t currently meet a work coach. My new paper explores how this conversation can be done effectively and avoid causing harm 🧵
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

Rachel Reeves to lift two-child benefit cap in November budget Exclusive: Officials exploring options to change rule that affected 1.7 million children in Great Britain last year

Very encouraging to read that the Government is preparing to lift the two-child limit as part of its child poverty strategy, but it is disheartening that options short of scrapping it entirely are still being considered. Thread on why this would be the wrong choice for an ambitious strategy:

Chart from https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publications/benefit-cuts-dont-have-widespread-support/ showing that the majority of people do not support planned or expected social security cuts in the UK

📢 Benefit cuts don’t have widespread support

Some fantastic insights and policy ideas in @beccastacey.bsky.social's new report. We can't simply will more disabled people into work, there needs to be greater support - and the benefits system might be going in the wrong direction 👇

DWP plans will see more than 50,000 disabled people lose job support DWP plans mean large numbers of disabled people will no longer qualify for a work allowance to support people looking for employment.

Great to see @beccastacey.bsky.social's research covered here by @cjayanetti.bsky.social in the @bigissue.com

www.bigissue.com/news/employm...

DWP plans will see more than 50,000 disabled people lose job support DWP plans mean large numbers of disabled people will no longer qualify for a work allowance to support people looking for employment.

At least 50,000 disabled people could lose access to financial employment support if the government goes ahead with plans to scrap the WCA benefit assessment, according to a new report from Citizens Advice

The true figure is likely to be higher

By me, for Big Issue www.bigissue.com/news/employm...

Important and thoughtful new report from @beccastacey.bsky.social on how the benefits system could be better at making work pay for disabled people

+ great to see this coverage in @bigissue.com from @cjayanetti.bsky.social 👇👇👇

DWP plans will see more than 50,000 disabled people lose job support DWP plans mean large numbers of disabled people will no longer qualify for a work allowance to support people looking for employment.

Many thanks to @cjayanetti.bsky.social for their write-up of this piece in the @bigissue.com tinyurl.com/2rvs3n4t

The parts of our social security system that help make work pay for disabled people aren’t living up to their potential

To learn more about how the government could better incentivise work, read the report tinyurl.com/h7s67jp2 and this blog tinyurl.com/mpp5ydpj

“Right to try,” which prevents work from triggering a PIP review or WCA reassessment, is a step forward but doesn’t go far enough

Protections should extend to routine and future assessments, and DWP should adopt a more flexible approach when assessing people’s capacity for work /8

Step 3: better protect benefits when disabled people move into work

Employment can put health and disability benefits, Carer’s Allowance, and linked support (such as free prescriptions) at risk /7

Raising the work allowance would allow disabled people to keep more of their earnings before their benefits are withdrawn, making work more rewarding /6

Step 2: increase the level of the work allowance

Currently, someone on UC sees their benefits reduced after just 7.77 hours of work at the National Living Wage if they get housing support, or 12.93 hours if they do not /5

Rather than limiting access, the government should be expanding disabled people’s access to the work allowance if it wants to encourage more people into work /4

However, planned government reforms mean that nearly 50,000 people who currently receive LCW or LCWRA but not PIP daily living, will lose both UC health support and their work allowance /3

Step 1: expand access to the work allowance

The work allowance is a vital tool that lets disabled people keep more of their benefits when they start working, before any reductions are applied /2

The govt wants to get more disabled people into work, but isn't making full use of the tools at its disposal

In my new report for @citizensadvice.bsky.social I've looked at how our social security system could do more to make sure that when disabled people want to work, work really does pay /1

Cuts to disability benefits weren’t totally averted!

🚨New report out today explaining why the Universal Credit Bill will harm disabled people and exploring who will be impacted by the cuts.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

New @citizensadvice.bsky.social briefing published with @julia-rt.bsky.social‬ on how Universal Credit can adapt to promote income stability for working households. We set out policy options for the UC review to consider to reflect the reality of low paid employment.

The narrative around Universal Credit has long centred around work incentives.

This new briefing examines how effective UC is at encouraging employment – and how that focus may have overshadowed the deeper complexities of getting into work. 🧵

🔗 www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

🚨 New report alert 🚨

We’ve launched our first local deep dive research into health inequalities - starting in Chapeltown, Leeds.

What does geography have to do with health & work? Quite a lot, it turns out. 🧵

1) New report alert 📚! Written by@dremilylynn.bsky.social and myself, it looks at the relationship between health and work. It is the first report from our wider project on health inequalities, funded by @healthfoundation.bsky.social‬. 🔗 www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

Everything about this awful policy is wrong. How it was conjured up, how the people affected were silenced, how it was justified, how the impact assessment was manipulated, how the Bill was rushed through Parliament, and how it was completely forgotten after the news cycle moved on after last week

Government's proposals to make it harder to receive a limited capability for work element on UC, would mean less disabled people have access to this important work incentive /4

There's definitely room for improvement with the Work Allowance (a topic of an upcoming report), but it is still one of the most important work incentives within the social security system for disabled people, helping to protect their income as they move into work /3

The Work Allowance means someone with a limited capability for work element on UC can earn £411 per week (£684 per week if they don’t receive housing cost support) before their UC payments start to be reduced /2

Great blog from @victoria-anns.bsky.social on why the government’s benefits cuts are not only deeply harmful, but also contradict the government’s own agenda

One area where this is really stark, is the Work Allowance ⬇️/1

More important evidence on why the PIP cuts are so misguided

- Many would need to reduce or give up work if they lost PIP
- Losing PIP would worsen people's health, pushing them further from work
- Not everyone can work due to the severity of their conditions - cutting PIP doesn't change this

Its time for change in Jobcentres, but how do we do it? My new paper proposes a vision for Jobcentre reform. The central idea is to introduce case workers, who would be service users’ main point of contact and offer ongoing pastoral and practical support 🧵
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...