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“Money is health in a way, you need money to have health” – Young people’s views on Universal Credit in North East England

Introduction

This new report shares insights from a pilot qualitative study with 41 young people aged 12-16 years. The aim was to explore how Universal Credit (UC) was viewed by young people from diverse backgrounds across North East England – using creative interviews, focus groups and workshops.

Overall, Universal Credit was understood as a proxy for poverty, and poverty was viewed as impacting most aspects of a young person’s life; whether at home, in neighbourhoods, or at school, and as determining health, social relationships, happiness and future life chances.

In North East England, where child poverty rates are some of the very highest in the UK, it is unclear to what extent, if any, young people are aware of Universal Credit and social security policies.

Research aims

The aim of this work was to understand young peoples’ views about Universal Credit (UC) and the welfare system in the UK more widely. To date, children and young people’s voices have been largely absent from discussions about UC policy and its effects (Bidmead et al 2023), with research focusing on the general household, often from the perspective of an adult (The Children Society 2016), which may be misleading.

The research team believe this is the first study in the UK to specifically focus on children and young people’s views of UC.

The findings from this study have since been used as the basis for the submission of evidence to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry (Benefit levels in the UK), May 2023. You can download the evidence submission, below.

Findings and recommendations

• The study participants said they wanted to see fair and supportive social security policies that account for differences between individuals and household circumstances
• The young people involved suggested that community-based youth clubs and personal, social, health education lessons in school were good settings to help young people better understand UC, the social security system, their rights and entitlements, and to acquire practical financial knowledge and skills that can be applied in everyday life.
• Participants had lots of views on how to optimise UC, including around how UC could offer an opportunity to improve children’s lives by alleviating the stress caused by not having enough money.
• Several mentioned how free access to public transport would be helpful in order to get to work or find work,  particularly as the cost of public transport was high in the North East.
• Some mentioned a need for government to address the damaging stigma around UC and benefits, to reduce the potential for shame and embarrassment for people claiming UC.
• Increasing the amount of money in line with rising costs to people who need it was also suggested as an improvement.
• A majority of young people who took part in the study described young people’s lives, including their mental health, as negatively affected by economic hardship as they struggle to fit in socially and at school with peers.
• Older participants (aged 16) said young people’s awareness and understanding of the impact of financial difficulties increased with age. Young people were aware when parents and caregivers were struggling financially and stressed about money.

The full findings from the study are available in the final report (below).

Report and supporting documents

The research team have produced a number of documents as part of this work, which you can download below:

• Study final report
• Study summary report for young people
• Policy briefing
• Investing in Children Activities Toolkit
• Rapid review paper by Bidmead et al., 2023
• Evidence submitted to a House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee  Inquiry (Benefit levels in the UK) May 2023

The aims of these documents are to:

• Share the views on UC and poverty from some young people across the North East region to help inform decisions on social security policymaking.
• Share the research team’s methodology and activities for talking about social security policies with young people for future research.

These insights and recommendations will be relevant to:

• Young people
• Policymakers
• Local authorities
• Schools
• VCSE organisations
• Community-based youth clubs
• Healthcare professionals
• Researchers

Tell us what you think

The research team would very much welcome your feedback. As the study progresses over the next twelve months with children aged 5-11 years, they will continue the process of gathering young people’s advice on their findings and recommendations, which will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

If you’d like to comment on this work, please email [email protected]

Research team

 Catherine El Zerbi, Mandy Cheetham, Elaine Bidmead, Steph Morris & Tabitha Dodd

Collaborators

Investing in Children, Children North East, The North East Child Poverty Commission

For more information, contact:

Dr Catherine El Zerbi

Research Fellow, Supporting Children and Families Theme

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East & North Cumbria

[email protected]

This study was funded by Newcastle University QR Policy Support Fund, and led by NIHR ARC NENC researchers from Newcastle, Northumbria and Cumbria Universities.