Sharing realities with the Minister for Social Security and Disability

I work as the Policy and Public Affairs Manager for CAP. Unlike the obvious job titles ​‘teacher’, ​‘cleaner’, ​‘doctor’, when I say my job title, I am often faced with either blank faces or people nodding in a pretence that they know what on earth that is! So to avoid that inevitable moment, let’s get the question out there — ​‘what is a Policy and Public Affairs Manager?’ My role is basically to take the insights from our clients’ experiences, service provision and research we conduct at CAP to decision makers and suggest what they could do to help improve the situation. This means I work with civil servants, regulators and parliamentarians to highlight issues and recommend policy solutions. 

I realise that even the description of my role is full of language that is not very down to earth, and that is a common challenge — policy conversations often happen in an ​‘ivory tower’ more Westminster-centric than grounded in the everyday reality people are experiencing. So to tackle just this, we brought the Minister for Social Security and Disability out of London and up on the train to Bradford to speak to people with first-hand experiences of the policies being discussed.

We welcomed Minister Sir Stephen Timms to our Bradford-based Central Support Hub to speak directly with past clients, local CAP workers, and Debt Advisors. With his remit, unsurprisingly, everyone had a lot to say to him! 

Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms, said:

One of the key themes that came from the day was people sharing how difficult finances are right now. Around half of CAP clients have a deficit budget where their income is not high enough to cover the costs of essentials, so the reality is tough. Without sufficient income from social security and wages, people are having to go without and are caught in the vicious cycle of debt. Disabilities only exacerbate the challenge due to the extra costs that disabled people face. 

Although the recent U‑turn on some of the proposed welfare changes has brought a momentary sigh of relief, past clients who experienced health difficulties were able to raise to Sir Stephen Timms the challenges that still need to be considered. This was a timely conversation as he embarks on the Timms Review of the PIP Assessment. 

Another common challenge discussed with the Minister was that people’s lives can be complex. At CAP, we partner with over 200 churches and have over 3,000 amazing local CAP workers who support people in communities across the UK. Being embedded locally and providing in-person support enables CAP to see someone’s whole situation and offer holistic help. We come alongside clients in the messiness of life, helping with their immediate needs and connecting them with other practical and emotional support that’s available. Sir Stephen was keen to hear from past clients and local CAP workers about the value they have found in CAP’s support. 

And finally, the third key theme was the insights shared around the challenges with the Universal Credit system. CAP’s Debt Advisors sent the Minister off with a wealth of comments about the changes that could be made to improve the system.

And the five-week wait came up throughout the day as a common concern–though to give full merit to the depth of this issue, I have written a whole other blog which you can dive into here!

Politics is hard, and when money unfortunately doesn’t grow on a tree, it does involve compromises and prioritisation. But we hope that when back in Westminster, considering the compromises and prioritisation, this opportunity to speak to people with lived and learnt experience of the policies he is looking into will have been helpful.

We will, as ever, continue to work with decision makers across the board to help share the realities our clients, frontline and service delivery teams are seeing in a bold, compassionate, collaborative way.