Section: Research & Surveys
Social housing and Worklessness
New research published by the Department for Work and Pensions presents the key findings to emerge from a study that explored possible explanations for the relatively high levels of worklessness among tenants in social housing.
The report is one of two reports to be published by DWP; the first report - key policy messages are detailed in DWP Research Report No. 482, published in May 2008.
This latest research focused on two key activities:
- further analysis of existing administrative and survey data and relevant literature; and
- in-depth qualitative interviews with 107 social tenants in two neighbourhoods (a concentrated area of social housing and 'pepper-potted' area of social housing) in each of four case study local authority districts (Derby, Islington, Peterborough and Sheffield). In addition, 30 in-depth qualitative interviews were also conducted with private rented tenants.
Five key research questions focused the research effort:
- Are social tenants able to recognise and realise the work-related benefits of living in the social rented sector?
- Does living in the social rented sector expose people to area effects that serve to distance them from work?
- Do difficulties moving within the social rented sector for work related reasons serve to restrict the job opportunities available to tenants?
- Does the current system of benefits and tax credits serve to distance social tenants from work and are these effects more pronounced than in the private rented sector?
- Are there any barriers, operating in isolation or combination, that help to explain the high levels of worklessness apparent among social tenants, in addition to those that have been already examined by quantitative analysis of administrative and survey data?
This report is organised around consideration of the five key research questions - social housing as a work incentive, geography, mobility, tax and benefits and further barriers to work facing social tenants.
The main findings include:
- Social housing as a work incentive - the vast majority of respondents reported that living in the social rented did not present a barrier or disincentive to work. There was no evidence that levels of labour market attachment shifted when respondents moved between tenures.
- Geography - no consistent evidence of cultures of worklessness in deprived areas.
- Mobility - few respondents reported that the difficulty of moving house within the sector acted as a barrier to securing work
- Tax and benefits - the effects of the tax and benefit system emerged as a significant issue for both social tenants and those in the private rented sector and appeared to act as a work disincentive, many respondents struggling to get to grips with the complex interaction between earnings, tax credits and housing benefit.
- Further barriers to work facing social tenants - six particular characteristics were found to inform the weak competitive position of many social tenants in the labour market: health issues; childcare responsibilities; debt; drug and alcohol dependence; criminal records; and multiple disadvantages.
