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- A stepped approach to welfare
A stepped approach to welfare
Our response to the Department for Work and Pensions consultation 21st Century Welfare recommended that the Government implement a stepped approach in supporting people’s rehabilitation and preparing them for work. This must be holistic – addressing the range of people’s needs - and recognise the distance needed to travel before sustainable work is a realistic option.
The following is an extract from our response, explaining this stepped approach.
What would a stepped approach look like?
1. Emergency/ transition
At this point, people are likely to be living extremely chaotic lives. They may be frequently arrested, and spending short periods in prison. High drug and alcohol use is probable. They may be sleeping rough. They are likely to present at A&E when they need medical assistance and will not be registered with a GP. Attention is largely focused on meeting day to day needs. Support at this stage needs to focus on addressing basic needs (accommodation, food and water, medical assistance).
Outreach team, police custody diversion services and link workers along with emergency hostels and housing teams will be the lead agencies. Jobcentre Plus will have a role by helping re-establish benefit claims that may have broken down, offering crisis loans and ensuring housing benefit is paid.
2. Stabilising
Once basic needs have been addressed, progress can be made in other areas through addressing wider needs including drug and alcohol use, mental health problems, past trauma, debt. Building a trusting relationship with one or more professional is vital at this stage.
Support required at this stage includes assessment, understanding and addressing wider needs and access to primary health care. A harm minimisation approach to drug use likely to be most viable starting point for treating substance misuse at this stage.
3. Change
As wider needs are addresses, their status as blocking factors is reduced or removed. The individual reaches a point where they are likely to be more receptive to efforts to build motivation and self-efficacy. Motivational interviewing and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy may be appropriate support. Individuals may request residential rehabilitation for drug or alcohol problems and seek to engage with positive social networks. As their aspirations build, stable employment starts to become a realistic goal.
4. Consolidation
Once the goal of employment as part of their recovery has been established, activities to prepare for work come in to play. This is likely to include engagement with education and training providers and welfare to work providers that specialise in supporting vulnerable individuals back to work (e.g. The Shaw Trust, A4E etc). Volunteering may play an important role here.
Self-efficacy is a useful concept applied at this stage. This is a person’s belief that they have the capability to achieve a particular course of action. Albert Bandura suggested four sources of self efficacy beliefs: mastery experiences (practice), vicarious experiences (seeing other people that they can identify with succeed) social persuasion (affirmation and encouragement by others) and finally physiological and emotional state (the person’s own state of stress, emotion, anxiety and depression). Support at this stage should focus on building self efficacy through peer support (vicarious experience), volunteering (mastery experience), talking therapies (emotional state) and motivation and encouragement (social persuasion).
Applied at this stage conditionality is considerably more likely to be effective. It may help to ‘nudge’ the individual towards training opportunities, and help to engender a sense of responsibility. However, full benefits should be retained. Liaison with potential employers should start at this stage in order to prepare both employer and employee for work together.
5. Work
This stage should include a gradual move in to employment. Individuals are more likely to sustain employment if they start with a ‘micro-job’ of only a few hours per week. This can slowly be built up as the individual becomes more confident. The proposed disregard and taper elements of the Universal Credit model will be facilitative of this approach. In-work support for both employer and employee will be essential. Move away from benefits should be gradual.
