Make Work Pay for Everyone
Find out about our campaign to tackle unfairness in the benefits system
What are we campaigning for?
BHT Sussex is pressing the Government to end an unfairness in the benefits system which results in homeless hostel residents being financially disadvantaged when they start working. This is a national problem affecting both individuals and the economy as a whole.
We are lobbying MPs and parliamentary groups to ask for a change in the way earnings are calculated by Housing Benefit to match how earnings are calculated by Universal Credit.
Background to the campaign
Our Accommodation for Work Project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, offers temporary shared accommodation and support for people who are homeless to enter or re-enter employment and training.
In 2023/24, 72% of people who accessed the project found paid work, and three quarters of them were effected by this benefits anomaly, ending up worse off when they increased their working hours, simply because they were living in a homeless hostel. Those effected were working in all sorts of different roles, including as support workers, dental nurses, baristas, chefs, electricians and construction workers.
The Accommodation for Work Project has worked closely with Brighton and Hove Housing Benefit department to use Discretionary Housing Payments to prevent project residents from being financially worse off when they are working. However, as this is only a discretionary payment, this innovative work at the local level is not a solution to this national problem.
We are asking for a change in the benefits system to #MakeWorkPayForEveryone. You can read more about the launch of the campaign here.
Real Life Stories - how have our clients been affected?
At the Accommodation for Work project in 2023/24, 75% of working residents were negatively effected by this benefits anomaly, with residents under 25 being impacted once their monthly earnings passed the £482 threshold and residents over 25 being impacted once their monthly earnings passed the £608 threshold.
Dave
Dave, 23, became homeless due to family breakdown; he was asked to leave the family home and found himself unemployed and with nowhere to live.
He got a place at the Accommodation for Work project, and soon after this found work as a cycle courier. In the first month he earned £482 and, as he was on a low income, he still received full help from housing benefit towards his rent. The following month Dave earned £485; however, because of how housing benefit calculate earnings, although he had earned £3 more, he was worse of by £126.42 because he had to pay this much more towards his rent.
Had he not been homeless and not living in a hostel Dave would have received this help towards his rent. This situation continued for more than six months, meaning Dave was over £700 worse off than someone working and living in private rented accommodation.
Mo
Mo, 45, had a long history of sleeping rough in Brighton and Hove as an asylum seeker. Once he had secured the right to work, he was determined to find a job. Before coming to us, Mo was in another temporary hostel in the city; however, they would not support him working.
Fortunately, Mo got a place at Accommodation for Work project and with our support he started work in a local restaurant as a kitchen porter. In the first month he earned £600 and, as he was on a low income, he received full help from housing benefit towards his rent.
The following month Mo earned £610; however, because of how housing benefit calculate earnings, although he had earned £10 more, he was worse off by £160.45 because he had to pay this much more towards his rent. Had he been living in private rented accommodation Mo would have received this help towards his rent, but because he was living in a homeless hostel, he was worse off in work.
Latest campaign updates
We have written to all Sussex MPs outlining our campaign and asking for cross party support on this issue. As a result, MPs from across the political spectrum have raised our concerns at various levels of government, for example with Parliamentary Questions and letters to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Following correspondence between ourselves, supportive MPs and the DWP, we were invited to meet with representatives from the DWP to discuss the campaign further and submit evidence about the effects of this benefits anomaly on our clients. We are meeting regularly to support the DWP in finding a workable solution to the problem.
We have reached out to other organisations to work with us on this issue, for example via a blog for Homeless Link. We have been in discussions with homelessness charities Centrepoint, YMCA, St Mungo's and Crisis and have contributed to a joint policy briefing with specific recommendations for how to bring Housing Benefit rules in line with Universal Credit.
Our Accommodation for Work project has developed an online calculator to provide a simple tool for hostel residents to see how work impacts on their benefits and rent. We hope to achieve a change in the benefits system through this campaign, but this calculator helps people navigate the system in the meantime.
