Universal Credit: Couples balancing work, care and finances
Universal Credit is the all in one super means-tested benefit being introduced gradually in the UK to replace six means-tested benefits and tax credits. Couples currently make up about 20 per cent of Universal Credit claimants; but the numbers and proportion will increase in future. So it is important to be thinking ahead to what will face these claimant couples and how potential problems can be avoided.
Fran Bennett will introduce Universal Credit and highlight some of the key issues relevant to couples claiming it, in relation to work, care and household finances. She will present the findings to date of the ESRC-funded project on Universal Credit and Couples which is using longitudinal qualitative research methods and in which she is a Co-Investigator. She will draw on these findings in order to discuss their implications for future policy and practice.

ESRC-funded research project: www.bath.ac.uk/projects/couples-balancing-work-money-and-care-exploring-the-shifting-landscape-under-universal-credit
Research report, June 2020, Uncharted territory, Universal Credit, couples and money: www.bath.ac.uk/publications/uncharted-territory-universal-credit-couples-and-money

Date: 15 October 2020, 10:00 (Thursday, 1st week, Michaelmas 2020)
Venue: Microsoft Teams
Speaker: Fran Bennett (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Department of Social Policy and Intervention
Organiser: Ruth Moore (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: communications@spi.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Social Policy and Intervention - Departmental Colloquium
Booking required?: Required
Booking email: communications@spi.ox.ac.uk
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Esme Wilks, Lani Fukada