Impact on welfare reform

The introduction of Universal Credit is widely recognised as the most radical reform of the UK social security system since the 1942 Beveridge Report. The work of SPRU has had a demonstrable impact on the development of ideas and policies around the concept of Universal Credit, of both the previous Labour administrations and the Coalition government. It was forecast that Universal Credit recipients who are working would be the main beneficiaries, receiving more than under the previous Tax Credit arrangements. Increased payments to claimants will amount to over £2bn with 3.1 million households benefiting*.

Summary of major impacts on policy by social policy and social work research

Our research:

argued for radical reform of social security and not more incremental changes, as had been the previous policy
argued that social security changes needed to complement employment policy changes to be effective
introduced the concept of the 'single working age benefit' which later became Universal Credit
Universal Credit was rolled out nationally from October 2013 and has affected the lives of millions of working age people.

How the system changed

The social security system for unemployed people was very complex with a number of different benefits applied to different categories of people. It was widely acknowledged that sometimes the benefits were an obstacle to going back to work. Their complexity meant that people could not tell if work would improve their income. It also put people off trying jobs as they feared having to reapply for benefits if the employment didn't work out.

Having a single system for most people regardless of their circumstances should be more efficient and transparent for everyone using it. Universal Credit is being rolled out across the country. The forecast was that Universal Credit recipients who were working would be the main beneficiaries of the change receiving more than under the previous Tax Credit arrangements (which were being abolished). Increased payments to claimants will amount to over £2bn with 3.1 million households benefiting (according to the government formal Impact Assessment).

*according to the government formal Impact Assessment.

The research
Impact on policy decisions
Full case study

The research

Professor Roy Sainsbury and his team had been working on evaluations of Government benefit policies for many years, these included a series of related research projects on social security and welfare to work programmes, including:

These projects showed that labour market initiatives consistently fell short of both expectations and aspirations, and that a contributory reason was the structure and complexity of the social security system.

Professor Sainsbury in a series of articles and research papers and through personal engagement with policy makers, argued that the challenge of reform was to design a social security system that would complement employment policy changes rather than tacking the social security system in isolation. Social security needed to actively support the transition of unemployed people into work. He advocated the idea of a single working age benefit that would make the system more efficient and transparent to those who used it.

In July 2009, DWP commissioned SPRU to conduct research on public attitudes to the single working age benefit.

Impact on policy decisions

Initial meeting

In July 2005, Margaret Hodge, Minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, invited Roy Sainsbury to discuss ideas on benefit reform. He left a paper “The reform of incapacity benefits - thoughts towards a new ‘working age benefit”. Some of the ideas in the paper were reflected in the Green Paper, A New Deal for Welfare (DWP 2006), in the chapter, ‘Long term benefits reform’.

The 'single working age benefit'

In an article in 2006 Roy Sainsbury introduced the phrase ‘single working age benefit’. During 2006, this idea of a single working age benefit fed into policy making through: 

Speech by Roy Sainsbury at a Labour Party Conference fringe event
Meeting with John Williams, Special Political Adviser to Secretary of State, John Hutton 
Meeting with Government adviser David Freud to discuss radical benefit reform and the single working age benefit. The Freud Report published in March 2006 contained a chapter “Benefit reform – towards a single system” reflecting many of the ideas discussed with him.

Advisor to Work and Pensions Select Committee

In March 2007, Roy Sainsbury was appointed Specialist Adviser to the Work and Pensions Select Committee for its "Inquiry into Benefits Simplification". The Committee’s report contains a chapter on fundamental changes to the benefit system discussing the single working age benefit in detail. In July 2007, a key paper by Sainsbury and Stanley set out a revised version of the single working age benefit as a blueprint for radical benefit reform.

Government Green Papers and research

In 2008, the Labour Government published two important Green Papers. "No One Written Off" contains a chapter on “Simplifying and streamlining the benefit system” and "Raising Expectations and Increasing Support” reaffirms “we remain attracted to the idea of a single working age benefit …” (p.35). Both Green Papers cited Sainsbury and Stanley's key paper.

In July 2009, DWP commissioned SPRU to conduct research on public attitudes to the single working age benefit.

Opposition into Government

In February 2009, David Freud (mentioned above) became welfare reform adviser to the Conservative Opposition. He introduced radical benefit reform to Iain Duncan Smith (currently Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) who had established the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). In September 2009, CSJ published Dynamic Benefits, which developed the single working age benefit idea further, citing Sainsbury and Stanley. After the 2010 Election, radical reform became a priority of the Coalition government. It published a Green Paper, 21st Century Welfare, in July, citing Sainsbury and Stanley, and a later White Paper, Universal Credit – welfare that works, that cited SPRUs work in this area.

Full case study

This impact case study received the highest grade in the recent Research Excellence Framework assessment exercise.

The full case study submitted to the REF 2014 panel is available here. REF-case-study-benefit (PDF , 62kb)