“You can see when your parents are struggling”: a qualitative study of children and young people’s views of Universal Credit

Cheetham, Mandy, El Zerbi, Catherine, Bidmead, Elaine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0166-4506 , Morris, Steph and Dodd, Tabitha (2024) “You can see when your parents are struggling”: a qualitative study of children and young people’s views of Universal Credit. Journal of Social Policy .

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License CC BY Download (285kB) | Preview

Abstract

By 2025, over eight million UK households will be receiving Universal Credit (UC). Introduced in 2013 to simplify the benefit system and improve work incentives for working age adults, UC has been criticised for causing hardship and exacerbating inequalities. There is limited research on children and young people’s (CYP) views of UC, as well as its health and social impacts. In this pilot qualitative study, creative methods were used to understand the views of UC among CYP (n = 40) aged 12–16 years in North East England. Findings showed diverse and nuanced understanding of UC as well as contested views about conditionality, sanctions, lower UC rates for under-25s and the two-child limit alongside recognition of the stigma and shame associated with benefits. While CYP value paid employment, they stressed the importance of minimum income standards and tailored employment support for UC claimants, taking account of their personal, health and family circumstances. Findings suggest CYP are aware when parents and carers are struggling financially and may try to ease pressures on parents. Debates about principles of equality, fairness, social justice and deservingness were present in young people’s accounts. We conclude by exploring future directions for a CYP-centred approach to social policy.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Journal of Social Policy
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	1469-7823
Departments:	Institute of Health > Social Work, Children and Families Centre for Research in Health and Society (CRIHS)
Additional Information:	Elaine Bidmead, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Research in Health & Society (CRiHS), Institute of Health, University of Cumbria, UK. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Depositing User:	Elaine Bidmead
Date Deposited:	14 Jan 2025 09:43
Last Modified:	14 Jan 2025 09:45
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8572

Downloads