Impact of welfare reform on Scottish households to be investigated

New research on the impact of welfare reform on Scottish households has been commissioned by a Scottish Parliament committee for 2015.

The work for the Welfare Reform Committee will be carried out by Professors Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.

For the first time, it will aim to measure the impact of the UK Government’s welfare reform agenda on different household types.

Committee convener Michael McMahon MSP said: “Our previous research allowed us to pinpoint communities worst affected by the impact of benefits and sanctions changes. The committee has also heard the very personal experiences of individual benefits recipients. This new research will now allow us to build a picture of how welfare reform is impacting on different household types, including pensioners, single parents and couples.”

The research follows two previous reports which measured the financial impact of welfare reform on Scotland as a whole and by local authority area, and the impact down to ward level.

This new research will now allow us to build a picture of how welfare reform is impacting on different household types, including pensioners, single parents and couples

It will break down the number of people affected by the different reforms into 15 household groups. These include pensioners, lone parents, and couples with or without children.

The committee is due to report its findings in the spring. The results are expected to become an essential tool for government and local authorities in shaping targeted responses and service delivery.

Speaking to Holyrood in December, McMahon said discussions have started about the future remit of the committee.

He said: “We’ve already taken some evidence from prominent academics and experts to give us an idea of which areas we will have to start looking at in terms of how we can deliver welfare change.

“There’s an argument for changing the name of the committee to the Welfare Committee because we’re going to be responsible for up to £3 billion of welfare spending in Scotland. It is going to take a government department to do that. 

“It’s about moving away from assessing to predicting and shaping.”