One year on: The impact of welfare reforms on housing association tenants

Public Sector

As part of a programme of research to monitor the impacts of welfare reforms on behalf of the National Housing Federation, Ipsos are producing a series of reports presenting data from surveys of housing associations and their tenants to understand the extent and nature of impacts of key welfare reform measures.

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As part of a programme of research to monitor the impacts of welfare reforms on behalf of the National Housing Federation, we are producing a series of reports presenting data from surveys of housing associations and their tenants to understand the extent and nature of impacts of key welfare reform measures.

The current report presents results from a survey designed to capture the views and perceptions of housing association tenants affected by the social sector size criteria, as well as the views of a control group of non-affected tenants. The survey found that two thirds of affected tenants (67%) are currently finding it difficult to afford to pay their rent, compared to less than a third of non-affected tenants (31%). Other key findings include:

  • More than half (55%) of affected tenants say that, in the last 12 months, they had very often run out of money by the end of the week or month, compared to two in five (41%) non-affected tenants who say this;
  • In response to being affected by the size criteria, affected tenants spontaneously report spending less money on food (32%) and heating/ energy (26%). The next most common responses were spending less on non-essentials (18%) and applying for Discretionary Housing Payments (10%);
  • 15% of affected tenants say they know a great deal or fair amount about the change to Universal Credit compared to 11% of tenants not currently affected by the size criteria;
  • Two in five (40%) of affected tenants say they do not have access to the internet either at home, at work or on a mobile device compared to 31% of tenants not currently affected;
  • Of those currently affected and who have access to the internet, around half (51%) say they would not be confident making a benefit application online, compared to 44% of tenants not currently affected; and
  • A majority (92%) of both affected and non-affected tenants say they would prefer their Housing Benefit to be paid directly to their landlord. 

Technical Note

The survey was conducted by telephone and is based on 1,002 responses completed between 21st February and 7th March 2014. The data was made up of 750 tenants affected by the welfare reforms and 252 not affected by the reforms (Nine respondents did not know whether they were affected or not and are not included in the analysis of the non-affected group). All tenants were working age General Needs tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit, renting from English Housing Associations. Data has been weighted to the known profile of affected and non-affected housing association general needs tenants across England.

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