Buckinghamshire County Council and partners commissioned Innovation Unit to conduct qualitative research of the impact of the current and upcoming Welfare Reforms.
The research involved 24 Buckinghamshire residents, and focused on the groups most likely to be impacted: working age people who are either unemployed or on low wages; people with a disability or long-term illness; unemployed young people; and lone parents.
We explored how changes to the benefits system would impact on people’s lives, and defined their best and worst case scenarios. This helped us to reveal opportunities for the Bucks Network to best support people in managing potential crises (e.g. dealing with a reduction in income, being pushed into work despite caring responsibilities, being left unable to pay rent and having to move to smaller accommodation) and in implementing behavioural changes that might have a positive impact in the long-term (e.g. finding suitable work, managing money differently).