Welfare Reform Team Evaluation of European Social Fund pilot project 2014-2015

• the setting up of the Welfare Reform Team as a response to social housing
underoccupancy for working age tenants (“the bedroom tax”) and the benefit
cap.
In particular, the project aimed to build on the work done by the Welfare Reform
Team (“the team”) during the Universal Credit local authority pilot in 2013-14, which
focused on supporting people affected by the bedroom tax and the benefit cap into
work as the best response to welfare reform. The team had helped 54 customers
into work by the start of the project.
Aims of the project
The project aimed to expand the work of the team into the private rented sector in a
way that in 2013-14 had been piecemeal through support given to customers
affected by the benefit cap.
As the high cost of renting privately was the main driver pushing tenants into the
benefit cap, the team had gained valuable experience helping them to take steps to
sustain their tenancies in the face of high benefit shortfalls, and in using discretionary
housing payments (DHPs) as an incentive to ensure that their rent was paid while
they improved their employability and moved into or back into work.
Based on the experience of supporting private sector benefit cap customers and
through recruiting additional caseworkers to the team, the project initially aimed to
work with 600 private rented tenants in the city to achieve the following outcomes:
• 20% (120 tenants) into sustainable employment; and
• 90% (540 tenants) into work-related training to improve their employability.
Project eligibility rules meant that customers could only participate in the project if
they weren’t already getting help from another ESF-funded project, or if they weren’t
taking part in the Work Programme.
Part of the team’s success in supporting customers into work ahead of the project
was due to upskilling and jobsearch support provided by a small number of partner
organisations. This meant that the work of the team was sometimes vulnerable to
single points of failure, as happened when one partner withdrew from its ESF-funded
contract and there was a gap in provision before a new partner emerged.
The project therefore aimed to create a wider network of partners to help it to deliver
a sustainable and individually tailored support package to customers. It also aimed to
co-ordinate the support offered by a wider network to create relevant training
opportunities needed for project participants – and, more widely, Oxford residents –
to access jobs available in the city.
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