Background to the Research

• This book has as its central focus the impact of poverty, unemployment and low wages in Northern Ireland. The book is largely based on the outcomes of two research projects: a qualitative study examining the experiences of people in disadvantaged areas of Belfast and a quantitative large-scale questionnaire survey of Social Fund claimants.

Research Approach

• Thirteen groups of individuals, varying in size from eight to twelve, were recruited from Catholic and Protestant West Belfast, and inner South and East Belfast. Four groups consisted of unemployed males and five of men in employment including employment on government schemes. The four groups of women consisted of two groups of participants aged over 25 with children and two groups of younger unemployed women. In addition, two groups of persons active in their communities were recruited at random from lists held by a local agency which grant-aids community groups.
  
  
• A questionnaire survey of households centered on claimants' experiences of the Social Fund over the preceding three years and their reactions to the receipt of charitable aid. Data was obtained from 214 households (64% response rate). The views of relevant agencies were also sought. In all, interviews were carried out with twenty advice agencies, nine Social Services offices and six charities. Fieldwork was conducted between 1991 and 1993.

Main Findings

Poverty, Debt and Deductions

• In no group did a majority of participants consider that with sound budgeting it was possible to make ends meet whilst living on benefit.
  
  
• It was evident that women in the groups were under greater strain. Amongst women in the focus groups there was much discussion of the anxiety and exasperation with obligations they could not cope with and advice they could not take.
  
  
• Only a quarter of families felt that they were generally managing whilst over two fifths (44%) of single parent families described themselves as often feeling so desperate with money worries they did not know which way to turn.
  
  
• 43% of the survey households reported that they lacked what they regarded as basic household essentials and three quarters of households reported that they had not had a holiday within the previous five years or never had a holiday.
  
  
• 72% of interviewees said they were able to celebrate special occasions such as Christmas but 84% of these reported they could only do so by borrowing or as a result of help in kind from family and charities.
  
  
• Interviews with survey households focused on the impact of living on a low income on the health of household members. In all, nearly one third (32%) of females in this group reported at least one longstanding health problem as did 23% of males. In addition 14% of dependent children were reported to have some longstanding health problem.
  
  
• Across focus groups and the households surveyed there was a consensus that the level of support provided by the benefits system was of a declining adequacy and in consequence, the difficulties of making ends meet were increasing.
  
  
• 51% of interviewees attributed their financial difficulties to benefits simply not keeping up with increases in the cost of living, whilst 56% of interviewees felt that the abolition of single payments.
  
  
• Amongst the 141 households subject to deductions in their benefits virtually all (135) were repaying loans to the Social Fund.
  
  
• Data from the 214 survey households demonstrated the depth and importance of two levels of credit in operation; firstly, there was substantial reliance on informal credit - family and friends for general day-to-day expenses and secondly, catalogues, cheques and money lenders were used for exceptional items of expenditure.
  
  
• 93% of households reported that they regularly ran out of money before the end of the week.
  
  
• Few interviewees thought that the introduction of the Social Fund had induced them to manage their budgets more carefully. For the majority the consequence had been greater reliance on informal credit and charity,

The Social Fund

• 84% of households surveyed had made at least one application to the Social Fund.
  
  
• Details were obtained for 71% (459) of applications made by survey households since the inception of the Social Fund. Within these 459 applications the needs most commonly expressed related to household goods, clothing and redecoration.
  
  
• Half of the applications (52%) were the result of a need to replace items that simply worn out, or a need to purchase an item that had not previously been required or had been done without.
  
  
• The majority of applications by families were for loans rather than grants.
  
  
• Only 57 of 160 applications for community care grants resulted in an award, by contrast the majority of applications for budgeting loans and crisis loans were successful.
  
  
• Over a quarter of claimants could not remember exactly how much they had received and two-fifths could not recall the repayment periods for loans obtained.
  
  
• The bulk of community care grants awarded were linked with ill health or moving accommodation. Overall, the pattern is of community care grants being narrowly tied to a small number of circumstances and flexibility beyond these creeping in only at the margins.
  
  
• 37 of the community care grants awarded were sufficient in amount, however 20 of the grants issued were for less than the amount applied for.
  
  
• 55% of single parents had multiple Social Fund debts or had lost track of the number of loans to be repaid.
  
  
• 41% of claimants who had made applications to the Social Fund reported that the repayments had been a source of hardship or difficulty.
  
  
• 95% preferred single payments to the Social Fund; only two claimants were in favour of retaining the Social Fund

Bridging the Gap

• 63% of those interviewed reported that as a result of the abolition of single payments and the introduction of the Social Fund they had become more dependent on relatives and the majority of these (80%) viewed this with concern.
  
  
• 85% of households reported that as a result of the introduction of the Social Fund, they were having to seek charitable aid, mainly from the Society of St Vincent De Paul. 61% of households had sought help from the Society on three occasions or more in the preceding three years.
  
  
• In the main the Society is assisting households to meet a very narrow range of basic needs for heating, clothes and household items; only seven application were unsuccessful.
  
  
• Interviewees' responses to reliance on charitable aid added up to a mixture of gratitude and resentment and many applicants were clearly caught between not wishing to appear ungrateful for the help they had received and their discomfort over being in receipt of such aid.
  
  
• 86% of households reported that they were generally more dependent on charities of various kinds as a result of the Social Fund being implemented; 70% also reported feelings of degradation and embarrassment related to this.

The Agency View

• Most of the work undertaken by social workers in connection with the Social Fund involved helping their clients to complete the necessary forms. They admitted to sometimes overstating the clients' case in order to enhance their chances of obtaining a loan or grant.
  
  
• Social work teams noted an increase in applications made to the Social Fund since 1988 but commented that this had not resulted in a corresponding increase in the success rate of applications.
  
  
• It was unanimously agreed that the criteria needed to satisfy a Social Fund payment, especially a community care grant, had become progressively tighter. The three criteria which the social workers felt were most likely to lead to payments were severe stress, illness and core danger to children.
  
  
• Charities had felt an increase in their demand for their help since the introduction of the Social Fund. In particular, it was cited as the main cause of the heavy increase in the number of requests coming from social services offices and citizens advice bureaus.
  
  
• The impact of Social Fund on the work of advice agencies was also assessed. The view of these agencies confirmed many of the points raised by the survey, in so far as the way in which similar needs are often treated differently.
  
  
• None of the agencies felt that the Social Fund was an improvement on the single payments system and many were critical of the indebtedness and hardship it produced for their clients.