On Tuesday 6 February, Turn2us hosted an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting on Universal Credit and gender. An APPG is an informal meeting of Members of Parliament (MPs) from all parties that meet to discuss specific topics with experts and stakeholders from the charity sector and academia. The aim of the meeting was for MPs to better understand the impact of Universal Credit on women. Whilst no legislation comes out of an APPG, they are an opportunity for MPs to hear from people with lived experience and understand the impact of policy on people’s lives.
The meeting was chaired by Debbie Abrahams, MP, and heard from Fran Bennett, an expert in UK social policy and co-author of Couples Navigating Care and Universal Credit. A significant proportion of the meeting was dedicated to listening to women in receipt of Universal Credit who are involved in community programmes in Middlesbrough, Sheffield and Manchester.
In Middlesbrough, Turn2us works with local partners, Ubuntu Multi-Cultural Centre and Creative Minds Middlesbrough as part of a project with Buttle UK and the Smallwood Trust. Ubuntu serves as a safe space for the community, where anyone can receive support in a non-judgmental way. Creative Minds helps women build networks of support that promote belonging and reduce the negative impact of isolation, language barriers and financial hardship. Community Savers is a network of place-based and women-led community groups which bring communities together to share ideas and strategies for addressing poverty and inequality. Lifted Carers, an organisation in Wythenshawe, offers support and advice to parent-carers of people with learning difficulties.
Our very own Sue went on behalf of Lifted
Sue, a carers family support worker for Lifted Carers based in Wythenshawe emphasised the need for a voice for carers, sharing her personal experience and concern about the impact of Universal Credit, particularly the deduction of Carers Allowance from payments and the challenges of working while in a caring role:
“Carers needs a voice. Someone to represent them. I’m a carer myself for my son and I want to speak up for myself and for other carers.
“The key thing for me was to share how carers are impacted by poverty greatly, particularly because of the deduction of their Carers Allowance from their Universal Credit payments, and not being able to go out to work because of their caring roles. I also shared the worries that so many carers have around the upcoming transition from the historical Employment Support Allowance over to Universal Credit and how that will affect them.”
Overall, the meeting provided MPs with honest and impactful stories, underscoring the need for a comprehensive understanding of how the social security system affects individuals with varying challenges. It highlighted the importance of including personal experiences in system design and the crucial role of collaboration between charities, advocacy groups and government in designing policy to ensure that Universal Credit meets the diverse needs of the population and offers the support it is intended to.
Link for full post – https://www.turn2us.org.uk/about-us/news-and-media/latest-news/turn2us-hosts-all-party-parliamentary-group-on-universal-credit-and-gender