We are pleased to announce we have been awarded funding for a new research project on Monthly assessment in Universal Credit for working claimants.

The project, starting in 2022, is funded by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, and will be led by Professor Nick Pearce, Dr Rita Griffiths, Dr Marsha Wood, and Dr David Young.

They will conduct a real-time analysis of how Universal Credit’s systems for assessing entitlement, recovering debt, and calculating payment affect income security and financial wellbeing among working claimants.

With around 7-8 million households projected to be claiming Universal Credit by 2024, there is a pressing need to gain a detailed understanding of the effects of monthly assessment on the growing volume of people subject to these rapidly evolving policies and technologies.

Following our existing research on Couples balancing work, money and care: exploring the shifting landscape under Universal Credit, this in-depth study seeks to fill this gap. The findings will be used to recommend policy changes, to increase the financial security of Universal Credit claimants.

On receiving the funding, IPR Research Associate, Dr Rita Griffiths, adds:

"We’re delighted to have received funding from the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust to explore Universal Credit and the monthly assessment for working claimants. This comes at a crucial time, in which millions of people will start to move to Universal Credit from 2022."

"In receiving this funding, we’re able to not only further examine the complexities of the monthly assessment process, but also explore and highlight the real-time, lived experiences of the claimants themselves.”