About The CampaignWhat we are fighting for
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My husband left me and I wanted to care well for my children as a full-time mum. When you’re single, children are more demanding. Now they’re older it’s difficult to get into formal employment. I lack experience and confidence because I haven’t worked for over 18 years and don’t have any new technology skills, like using a computer. So I’ve got on a course and then I will look for a job.
When my husband left I could not manage with the children so young. I claimed benefits but did not have enough money to live on. I never talk about being on benefits as I am embarrassed and I think I would lose my benefits if I declared my small income from hairdressing. I have been doing cash-in-hand work as a hairdresser for about six years out of my home. My customers have a low income and it helps them to come to me as my charges are much lower than in the salons.
To help them to get into a full-time job people should have training that is good quality and then get good wages. More advice about making the change from working informally to formally, how will this affect my benefits, flexible working, will I be able to manage? When you haven’t worked for so long it is a big step to go back into formal working and I think there should be more support than available currently.
Naomi: Working around childcare
Latest news: Electronic transfer of claim information between DWP and HB department is to be rolled out
A ‘claimant advisory panel’ must be established .
- DWP and Jobcentre Plus should establish a permanent ‘Benefit Claimants Sounding Board’ or ‘Claimants Advisory Panel’ which would work directly with head office DWP / JC+ officials and Ministers to develop new strategies, policies, programmes and initiatives. more details.
Benefit application forms must be simplified
- All benefit forms should be substantially shorter and written in very plain English.
DWP should focus on ‘entitlement’ and ‘take-up’ not ‘fraud’ Fraud and error
- Benefits are a right and not a privilege, therefore locally delivered take-up campaigns should focus on increasing take-up of benefits (£9bn went unclaimed last year including benefits and tax credits), as well as reducing error (£1.9bn official and customer error), with less of focus on reducing fraud (only £800m fraud) more details.
Transitional support: Informal Economy Support Teams
- One of the main problems with the current system and again not raised in the Green Paper is that support stops when people get a job. However employment programmes like New Deal have proved that in-work support is the key to success of remaining and then progressing in-work. This will require increased resources for Jobcentre Plus in terms of staff and funding, but it works.
- Employment advisers should be based in the local community and non governmental organisations should play a role in assisting informal workers to make the transition. Read an example of the Jobcentre Plus advisers taking a more flexible role outside of their usual offices here.
- Read the National Audit Office Report on delivering effective services through service advisers
More than half those interviewed [in the Voices for a Change Report] said that the services they used were unhelpful, unapproachable, complicated to use or even untrustworthy
"In reality the services did not help me. In reality people who are from the street give you information, where you can go and how you can survive. But when you want information from there [the jobcentre Plus] they don't know anything."
Voices for a Change Report, ATD Fourth World
We stress the need for support services to be continued throughout the transition process of moving from cash-in-hand work to formal paid work to ensure people do not fall back into the informal economy and continue to progress upwards. DWP should consider establishing specialist informal economy support teams throughout the UK.