Elaine

Elaine is a mother and grandmother from Bexley, London. She works hard as a midwife and really enjoys it. However, Elaine is one of the many women in the UK affected by the housing crisis. There is a chronic housing shortage in the UK and though the government is prioritising building so-called ‘affordable’ housing, it is not affordable for most families.

View Elaine’s story

What's the government's policy on affordable housing?

Eleanor

Eleanor is a trainer and advocate for disabled women’s rights. After having lived abroad in France and the US for several years, she came back to the UK for a job. She co-founded Sisters of Frida to help disabled women who face daily barriers

View Eleanor’s story

What is the Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?

Purple text saying Women Speak Out on white background
Kerri

Kerri is a young woman who left university after losing her mother when she was 21. Since the death of her mother, Kerri has acted as a carer for her young sister.  As a result of this turbulent time, Kerri experienced 8 months of unemployment.

View Kerri’s story

What is the government’s current policy on young people’s unemployment?

Shirley

Shirley is a chartered psychologist and a retired university lecturer. She has been left feeling dis-empowered by the changes made to the State Pensions Age (SPA). Like many women, she did not receive a reasonable notification period regarding the changes made to her pension and therefore did not have time to prepare and plan for the adjustments.

View Shirley’s story

What is the government’s policy towards state pensions for women?

Sophie

Sophie is an art practitioner and writer. In the last 15 years she has received the Independent Living Fund (ILF) with which she can afford different and fairly paid carers who help her with imperative daily tasks that she is not able to do herself. Without the ILF, she wouldn’t be able to work, cultivate interests, and take any part in public life.

View Sophie’s story

What is the Independent Living Fund (ILF)?

Sophie K

Sophie is a young mum of two who works for the NHS and is also a part time Masters student. Like other young mums Sophie has had a tough time balancing full time work, part time study, and looking after her children. 

View Sophie's story

What is the government’s policy towards young mums?


Policy

What is the government’s current policy on young people’s unemployment?

What is the government’s policy towards state pensions for women?

What is the government's policy toward young mums?

What's the government's policy on affordable housing?

What is the Independent Living Fund (ILF)?

What is the Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?

What is the government’s current policy on young people’s unemployment?

The youth unemployment rate currently stands at 15.6%, considerably higher than the national rate of 5.6%. The government wants to encourage more young people to go into apprenticeships in order to gain the skills and training needed to enter fulltime employment. In addition to this, they have encouraged young people to participate in voluntary programmes to help broaden their skills and experience.

The main governmental organization that provides job seeking services to the unemployed is the Job Centre. The job centres’ purpose is to offer advisory services to those looking for work and schemes to help develop their skills and experience. A ‘back to work plan’ will be created for those who turn to the job centre for help.

What are the issues with this approach?

Many people feel that the government’s current schemes do not go far enough to tackle the issue of youth unemployment. The Job Centre has come under heavy criticism for what many perceive to be a lack of support, particularly for young people. Many young people are turning to charities to provide the support they feel the government is failing to give them, yet many young people are left without any support at all. The feeling among many young people is that the job centre is no longer fit for purpose and is failing to aid them through the transition into employment. Campaigners believe that the approach of the job centre is to process people as quickly as possible in order to meet timing targets. As a result of this, staff at the centres fail to talk to young people about barriers to employment such as mental health problems and young people don’t feel as though they are given the opportunity to open up. Because the Job Centre provides everyone with the same services, it fails to take into account specific issues that can face young people, particularly young women. Opportunities to gain experience are limited and mainly in the retail sector further reducing the opportunities for young people to develop their potential.

The job centre must modernize and adapt if they are to effectively help young people into employment and help reduce the unemployment rate. This includes spending more time with those who come for help, offering tailored advisory services and a broader range of voluntary schemes.

Sources


What is the government’s policy towards state pensions for women?

The government have made a number of significant changes to entitlements of State Pension for women. For decades, the State Pension Age (SPA) for women used to be 60. However, the government is gradually increasing the age women can claim their State Pension. Changes to SPA were announced in the 1995 Pensions Act and were to be implemented by 2020. However in 2011, the government sped up the timetable so that the changes made in 1995 to the SPA would be phased in by 2018 instead. The changes increased the SPA for women to 65. In 2011, it was also announced that the SPA between 2018 and 2020 would increase to 66, and will gradually increase in stages until it reaches the age of 68. One of the major concerns about this policy change is that many of the women affected say that they were not properly informed about the changes made to their pensions and therefore did not have enough time to adequately prepare for the financial burden this will bring.

What is the issue with this approach?

The changes made to State Pensions are disadvantageous for many women. An estimated 500,000 women are currently being affected by the increase in SPA. The motive behind the government’s changes is to ensure that the SPA for women is equal to the SPA for men. However, the speed of the changes is a real cause for concern. In addition, the government did not write to any women affected by the rise in the pension age for nearly 14 years after the law was passed in 1995. Many MPs have recognised this and also found that the government had failed to properly communicate with the women affected by the rise in the SPA. The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group set up a campaign in order to address the unfair changes made to the State Pension age imposed on women.

In 2011, the coalition government decided that the rises would be accelerated so that for both men and women, the SPA would reach 66 by 2020. The 2011 decision was made rapidly and with barely any notice. Women born between 1953 and 1956 have been affected the worst as they have had their pension age increased twice, both in 1995 and in 2011. As such, thousands of women who were already being made to wait until they were 63-65 to get their pensions would now face a further delay. Many women are now experiencing hardship, as they have to wait for their state pension and have also not been able to prepare financially. As a result, many women had no choice but to continue working or use their savings to get by. In addition, it may be harder for women to enter the workforce in their sixties as many employers are reluctant to employ people in their sixties.

See the WASPI campaign website here: http://www.waspi.co.uk/ 

Sources

What is the government’s policy towards young mums?

There is some support for young mums in education. You may get a special support grant if you have a partner who’s also a student, and one or both of you are responsible for a child or young person under 20 years old who’s in full-time education below higher education level. The amount you get is the same as the maintenance grant or assembly learning grant, but it doesn’t reduce the amount of maintenance loan or loan for living costs you can borrow, and isn’t taken into account when calculating the means-tested benefits you’re entitled to.

Young mothers who are full time students are entitled to a childcare support grant of up to £155.24 a week for 1 child and up to £266.15 a week for 2 or more children. Full-time students with children could get up to £1,523 a year to help with their learning costs. This is called Parents’ Learning Allowance. This is not available for mums in part time study. Young mothers who are not in education can receive a child benefit of £20.70 per child per week, and additional £13.70 per week for any subsequent children.

The government has plans to cut benefits that will have a direct impact on young mums. Families with more than two children will no longer receive housing benefits or tax credits for their third child. This “two child policy” will be implemented in April 2017, and will leave many families worse off.

What is the issue with this approach?

Many young mothers have trouble dealing with cuts made by the government, such as cuts on housing benefits. In summer 2015, the Chancellor announced the removal of entitlement to housing benefits from young people aged 18-21. In addition, for some young mums, a lack of money for transport means they will be left isolated and lonely. A big issue is young mums who aren’t working, are working part-time, or working in low-income jobs; this group is most vulnerable. Young mothers also face stigma, and therefore a focus on the support for young mothers should be addressed and made central to policy making in order to respect their needs.

Sources


What is the government’s policy on affordable housing?

Housing affordability is a key concern for many in the UK. The government has said it is helping communities around the UK to build better places for people to live and to ensure housing becomes more affordable to rent and buy. A new housing policy was introduced last year that promotes “starter homes” to buy which are subsidised by the government. This is in order to promote higher levels of homeownership, specifically focused on new buyers. Prices of these starter homes begin from £250,000 outside of London and £450,000 in London. A report found that this new policy would only actually help 5% of the people stuck in unaffordable private renting, as these starter homes are still too expensive for most people in the UK.

In addition, the new build output has proved to be a big challenge for the government. In London, it is projected by the government that 56,000 new homes need to be built every year to accommodate new households, however in the past few years, London has seen less than half of these numbers being built. There is a major gap between the housing needs of people and new homes actually being built.

What is the government’s policy on social housing?

The government has taken a much-reduced role for social housing. Grant funding is continuously disappearing for social housing and therefore there is a decline in social house building. As the government’s housing focus is on supplying ‘affordable’ housing, for every affordably property building, one or more existing social housing property will be lost.

What is the issue with this approach?

House prices in London are some of the highest in the world. Low-middle income earners are a group who are continuing to struggle due to the rising cost of rents, especially single women and lone parent mothers who have to balance part time work and child responsibilities. Women are often poorer and so are less likely to be able to get on the property ladder. Cuts to social housing hit women hardest, and women are in greater need of affordable rented accommodation from housing associations.

The funding for social housing has fallen in recent years. Right now there are more than 1.8 million households waiting to be allocated social housing, and the waiting lists for social housing are rapidly growing. As such, more and more people are being forced into private rented housing. This leaves thousands of individuals and families vulnerable and without access to suitable houses that they can afford.

Sources

What is the Independent Living Fund (ILF)?

The ILF was established in 1988 to provide financial support for people living with disabilities across the UK. The fund paid an average of £300 a week to around 18,000 disabled people. Recipients of the ILF were considered to be some of the most severely disabled people in the country. The ILF was predominantly used to cover the costs of carers and personal assistants to allow those with severe disabilities to remain in their homes rather than moving to residential care homes. This money came from the central government and was given to recipients in addition to benefits given by local authorities to ensure they can keep up with the costs of care. However, in July 2015 the government ended the programme, and now funding is distributed solely by local authorities.

What are the issues with terminating the Independent Living Fund?

Former recipients of the ILF have protested its termination, worrying about the drastic effects this can have on their financial situations and overall quality of life. The national government has significantly reduced the amount of money being given to local authorities each year from £300 million to £262 million, which has reduced the amount of money available to support people with disabilities The money going to disabled people is not ring-fenced, so it is vulnerable to spending cuts that would have a negative impact on the lives of disabled people. It is probable that local authorities will have to begin making decisions based on cost rather than based on meeting the actual needs of disabled people.

Did you know?

Disabled women and women with long term health conditions make up 1/3 of all women in UK refuges.

Sources

What is the Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a benefit in place to help with the extra costs caused by disability for those aged between 16 and 64. Recipients get between £21.80 and £139.75 a week depending on how their condition affects them. This is determined through regular assessment. The PIP was introduced in the 2012 Welfare Reform Act to replace the Disability Living Allowance which is being phased out. Potential recipients fill in a form describing how their disability affects them and attach evidence to support their claim. The Department of Work and Pensions then passes information to a health professional who decides whether the person in question needs a face-to-face assessment, in most cases they do. The healthcare professional will then review the evidence and report back to the Department of Work and Pensions. A decision is then made as to whether the person is entitled to PIP and if so at what rate. If the person disagrees with the decision then they are able to appeal it.

What are the issues with the Personal Independent Payment?

The criteria established in the PIP assessment process have been described as deeply flawed by many disability campaigners and by the media. The assessment element of PIP has been taken out of the public sector and is now outsourced from private firms such as French company ATOS. Many disability campaigners have criticised this type of outsourcing claiming that private companies are not doing the assessments properly in order to meet targets and cut costs. As a result of this, many disabled people are being classified as more abled than they are in reality and are losing their PIP or having it drastically reduced. A great deal of attention was brought to the scheme due to many highly controversial cases coming out.

Additionally, many disabled people are concerned about the Universal Credit System that was launched in 2013. The system aims to reform and simplify the existing system by merging the six main types of means tested benefits. Disability campaigners believe that this system oversimplifies and fails to take the needs of disabled people into account. As a result they believe that disabled people are being left in precarious positions without the assistance and support they truly need.

Did you know?

Disabled women and women with long term health condition make up 1/3 of all women in UK refuges.

Sources:


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