I joined the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) in 2014 as an academic with twenty years research and teaching expertise in social security law, alongside ten years as Executive Director of the Law Centre Northern Ireland. While all of this …
The social security system supports people in a wide range of circumstances but it is not always clear how effective this support is. This is partly because social security can be complex and different benefits try to do different things …
Committee members went to Scotland at the start of the month, four years since our last visit. In 2015, we looked at the early pilots of Universal Support, heard from Jobcentre staff at the height of Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions and …
When I accepted the role of SSAC Chair, I knew that Paul Gray was going to be a difficult act to follow. However I was reassured to be given a start date of 1st August – with several weeks of …
Good public services are co-designed with people who use them and people who provide them. That way, at best, the design meets the needs and aspirations of the public - and leads to something feasible to deliver. Disabled people have …
In May this year, the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) published a report on the subject a particularly vulnerable group of people in our society – young people living independently. It’s an interesting phrase that. It conjures an image of …
The end of my time as Chair of SSAC is now rapidly approaching – I stand down at the end of July. But this week’s meeting (June 20) of the Committee saw us considering perhaps the most important set of …
The next phase of Universal Credit will see the ‘managed migration’ of almost three million people, most of whom are currently claiming tax credits or Employment Support Allowance. It is a big, complex endeavour – one that the Committee will …
Most people want to belong, to be accepted as a member or part of something - be it a club, a friendship group, a social media network – the list goes on. Why is this so? It’s because belonging is …
…was what went through my mind in the summer of 2017 when I received an e-mail from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Why had my name come to the Department's attention? I thought perhaps I had left my coat …
Young people who live independently often fall between the cracks of public services designed more with more stereotypical family types in mind. Social security is little different. Entitlement to benefits Nearly 40 years ago, entitlement to benefits was removed for …