(really) listening to the experts by experience on poverty & welfare reform Sarah Batty

I have never cried at a conference before, but I was reduced to tears at Bradford’s conference on Large families, Welfare reform and Poverty as were many in the room. The keynote speakers were members of a new Bradford group called Hope Rising who shared devastating accounts of the impacts of welfare reforms, in particular the recently lowered Benefit Cap, on themselves and their friends. The speakers were extremely brave and their testimonies were delivered through their own tears. They told us exactly what it is like to not have enough money to buy food for your children or to pay your rent. For your children to be put in ‘isolation’ at school to punish them for not having the required school uniform that you simply could not afford. To have your sickness benefits stopped, and be found ‘fit for work’ in spite of your debilitating and well-evidenced health condition.

As a front-line advice worker, I am used to hearing about welfare reforms. Attendees included people like me; council staff and other professionals in administrative and helping roles. So, why was it so shocking and emotional to hear what the members of Hope Rising had to say?

Because it was so different. Usually, when interviewing people, we, the professionals, the ‘experts’ control the dialogue in order to find out in limited time the key information we need to look for practical solutions and give whatever support we are able to offer. At this conference, we had to listen to people tell their stories in their own way and on their own terms. This was very powerful. It was also very effective: a councillor with a particular brief for anti-poverty within the district was very moved and said she would take her new understanding of the situation back to work.

However, the room still grasped for solutions to help. Why don’t you apply for Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP), suggested a member of the audience, to cover your rent that is no longer covered by Housing Benefit you have been Benefit Capped. DHP is a cash-limited fund administered by councils to ameliorate the effects of several welfare reforms which cut people’s housing benefit, including the Bedroom Tax. There is insufficient money in the pot to help everyone affected, and councils make it very clear that DHP is a short-term measure for three to six months. There is no guarantee of being awarded DHP and the application process involves claimants explaining what they are doing to improve their financial situation and downwardly adjust their spending. One of the speakers from Hope Rising responded vehemently that it was extremely difficult to apply for and to gather the receipts required by the Council in order to scrutinise your spending patterns. This group member’s experiences are very similar to a process used by a Council where I work, where the application process creates administrative barrier clearly designed to deter people from applying.

Another solution proposed from the floor by people with experience of working in schools was that the speakers should ask their schools to give them the Pupil Premium

money that the school gets from the Government to help low income pupils achieve their potential. This suggestion, similar to the DHP, would involve people in considerable self-advocacy, challenging authority arguing their case of financial hardship and their deservingness of the money over and above whatever projects the school had used its discretion to direct the funding towards.

What is striking about the Benefit Cap is that it reduces the financial entitlements of families who are out of work to a level way below what was previously considered in the law to be the minimum subsistence level of income needed by that household to survive. The need to go ‘cap in hand’ and ask for discretionary help, proving that you are deserving of a subsistence income and a roof over your children’s heads can, like visiting the food bank, be demeaning and stigmatising. It also adds a layer of bureaucracy that parents have little time for as they juggle the various commitments just to survive. Of course, helping professionals must always point people in severe financial hardship in the direction of sources of help, even when they are temporary and inadequate and involve a load of hassle. But, we must not get distracted from considering and protesting the welfare reform policies themselves. What do these policies really mean for those people directly affected and what do they say about our society? We must be forced to hear the uncomfortable truth, directly from people like the members of Hope Rising. We must take their lead and work side-by-side in working out what a decent society should do to support all of its families.

Sarah Batty is a welfare rights adviser and trainer, interested in the impact of welfare reforms, conditionality, discretionary decision-making and social housing.

@sarah_batty