Disincentives

With King’s College London, SEP is examining disincentives in the UK benefits systems (with comparative European research) for potential social enterprise employees. The outputs include research reports and policy statements.

Objectives

	To define the impact of the current welfare benefits system on the capacity of unemployed people with disabilities and other disadvantages to move from social security benefits into employment within social enterprises.
	To produce a report that describes the barriers, solutions and policy issues in Great Britain in order to broaden the understanding of these issues and to make practical recommendations as to how barriers and problem issues could be addressed.
	To conduct comparative research at an international level to explore if the welfare benefits system in other countries creates an enabling environment for welfare recipients to move back into employment.

Delivery Approach

Working with King’s College London, the partnership will examine disincentives in the benefits systems in the United Kingdom for those wishing to work in the social enterprise sector, publish a clear statement of the issues, contrasting the situation with that in other European countries, and disseminate findings to national and regional government and other policy makers, identifying further action required.

Bob Grove, Patience Seebohm and Judy Scott of the Institute of Applied Health and Social Policy (Employment Support Programme) at King's College, London have been appointed by SEP to conduct the research. In Phase 1 on the research project, the researchers are consulting with people with disabilities and disadvantages throughout GB. An initial starting point will be the social firm sector as welfare benefits are a significant issue for many of the members of Social Firms UK and there is an established network to put the researchers in touch with individuals and organisations affected. The recommendations for change to the current Welfare Benefits system will to be based on the experiences of the individuals and organisations consulted. This will take account of the issues they raised and statistical evidence produced.

In Phase 2, the researchers will also be undertaking comparative research of the welfare benefits system at an international level. This will identify if there are comparable barriers in these countries and if their experiences and practice can be of any assistance with solutions and recommendations in GB.

The Project Report is aimed at broadening the understanding of the issues and is targeted at government officials within Department of Work and Pensions, the Treasury, Department of Social Security, the DTI, Benefits Agencies, Job Centre Plus, other government and national/regional authorities responsible for employment and enterprise, the social enterprise sector (and those who have little understanding of benefits issues in particular), and individuals and organisations interested in the employment of people with disabilities.

Outputs

	A report on disincentives to work within the UK benefits system and how these impact on potential job seekers. The report will provide information about measures that can be taken within the current system to address the disincentives and information about where to get more advice about benefits, and where to read further on this topic.
	A report which outlines comparative research into welfare benefits in other countries, suggests improvements which could be incorporated into UK system without major upheaval and presents an outline vision of an alternative system