Families navigating Universal Credit in the COVID-19 pandemic

Griffiths, Rita; Wood, Marsha; Bennett, Fran; Millar, Jane

doi:10.2307/j.ctv2mgg2qn.11

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…This in part resulted in the selection of quantitative rather than qualitative research in the formation of Universal Credit policy (Bennett & Sung, 2014), with harmful consequences. For example, there are gendered impacts of Universal Credit (Griffiths et al, 2020) that may have been avoided had Sung and Bennett's (2007) earlier qualitative research on how couples manage their finances been drawn upon during policy formation. Mounting evidence has shown how issues with Universal Credit arising from the mismatch between policy delivery and claimant's everyday lives results in significant hardship (Cheetham et al, 2019; Wickham et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The two‐child limit and fertility decision making: When policy narratives and lived experiences collide

Patrick

Andersen

2022

Soc Policy Adm

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The two‐child limit and fertility decision making: When policy narratives and lived experiences collide

Patrick

Andersen

2022

Soc Policy Adm

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“…The mothers helped their partners with their commitments to avoid a sanction, as they knew that due to the single payment into one bank account, a sanction would affect the whole family. Research conducted by Griffiths et al (2022) has similarly found that female partners tend to take on more responsibility for managing the Universal Credit online claim. This further increases the gendered division of unpaid labour in coupled households.…”

Section: Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Therefore, this article draws upon new empirical evidence to investigate mothers' experiences of the conditionality regime within Universal Credit, and whether they vary according to social class. In doing so, this article builds on previous research investigating conditionality and lone parents (Graham and McQuaid, 2014;Johnsen and Blenkinsopp, 2018), and the conditionality in Universal Credit specifically (Andersen, 2020(Andersen, , 2023Griffiths et al, 2022), particularly by shedding new light on the impacts of the Universal Credit conditionality regime on unpaid care and paid work through exploring these from a class perspective.…”

Section: The Universal Credit Conditionality Regime For Responsible C...mentioning

confidence: 97%

Social Security, Gender and Class: The impacts of the Universal Credit Conditionality Regime on Unpaid Care and Paid Work

Andersen

2024

Social Policy and Society

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The introduction of Universal Credit, a new means-tested benefit for working-aged people in the UK, entails a significant expansion of welfare conditionality. Due to mothers’ disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care, women are particularly affected by the new conditionality regime for parents who have the primary responsibility for the care of dependent children. This article draws upon qualitative longitudinal research with twenty-four mothers subject to the new conditionality regime to analyse the gendered impacts of this new policy and whether there is variation in experiences according to social class. The analysis demonstrates that the new conditionality regime devalues unpaid care and is of limited efficacy in improving sustained moves into paid work. It also shows that the negative gendered impacts of the conditionality within Universal Credit are at times exacerbated for working-class mothers.

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“…Few families were included in the early UC roll-out which concentrated on lone claimants, but the numbers have increased over time. Research has suggested that UC claimants face many challenges that affect individual and family wellbeing and relationships (Griffiths et al 2020). There are several elements in the way UC is designed and operates that are important in this regard.…”

Section: Reforms In Benefits and Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Resilience with Families: National Report for the UK

Daly,

Osinski

2023

Preprint

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This report presents the analysis of the primary research conducted in the UK for Work Package 4 (WP4) of the rEUsilience project. The report’s underpinning evidence was obtained through seven focus groups conducted with 50 members of families in different parts of England and Scotland between January and April 2023. The research provides profound insights into the challenges facing families and how they seek to overcome these challenges. Families were found to be faced with a series of risks, with problems relating to income, employment and care-giving intersecting together and with other background difficulties such as widespread illness and disability to create a situation of multiple barriers to achieving resilience. Income pressures seemed to be omnipresent in various aspects of everyday life and needs, with low benefits, low wages and high costs all contributing to precarious situations. Matters relating to jobs and employment were the source of significant negative comment, especially in regard to the availability of work, the sufficiency of wages and the difficulty of retaining employment in contexts of heavy care-giving and income and skills constraints. As well as material challenges, people bore the weight of considerable negative emotions, such as feelings of deprivation and marginalisation. There was a reliance on a range of supports but, when people’s individual situation was probed, their support networks seemed fragile. People showed considerable resourcefulness and even creativity in managing their situations. It was clear that they used a wide range of cognitive and behavioural skills but this was often not enough to prevent hardship and worry. Participants were very critical of the benefit and services systems, including healthcare. They made many suggestions for improvements, prioritising more generous and inclusive income support, as well as better services. People also wished to be better represented in the political process and for greater recognition of their contribution, especially as care-givers. and other activities in a family setting.

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Families navigating Universal Credit in the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

The two‐child limit and fertility decision making: When policy narratives and lived experiences collide

The two‐child limit and fertility decision making: When policy narratives and lived experiences collide

Social Security, Gender and Class: The impacts of the Universal Credit Conditionality Regime on Unpaid Care and Paid Work

Exploring Resilience with Families: National Report for the UK

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