Significant differences in benefit entitlements across UK countries, study finds | profit

The emergence of “welfare nationalism” in the UK has led to significant differences in benefit entitlements, with the result that low-income Scottish families receive £15,000 more per year in state support than the same households across the UK border.

A typical unemployed couple with four children would have received an annual benefit income of £22,000 in York, compared with £32,000 in Belfast and £37,000 in Glasgow, according to new research into the impact of the devolved welfare approach.

Other eye-catching differences include eligibility for benefits and grants, which means babies in families receiving universal credit in Scotland are eligible for an extra £1,800 during their first year of life compared to England or Wales.

The devolved exclusion of benefit caps, which limits total benefit income to unemployed households, means families in Scotland and Northern Ireland are potentially thousands of pounds a year better off than families in England and Wales.

“More and more, [social security] The support people can receive when affected by issues such as low income, illness, disability or care responsibilities will depend on where they live in the UK,” said the study published by the Safety Nets project.

The study, the first detailed analysis of devolution in social security policy, found that differences in entitlements across the four countries had only slightly increased overall welfare spending in the UK, while the structure of the system remained broadly the same.

But the financial impact of these differences on individual households should not be underestimated, he said. Because delegated policies can make a big difference to the standard of living that low-income households experience depending on where they live.

The panel of benefit recipients who participated in the report praised some of the mandated welfare schemes, but added: “We are all part of the UK and it can feel unfair that people in one area benefit from additional support that we cannot access on our own.”

The £15,000 difference in benefit income for the same family in England and Scotland cited in the study is explained by the more generous child allowance in Scotland and the additional protections that shield Scottish families from a benefit cap that reduces the benefit entitlement of English families by £8,000 a year.

Social housing tenants in Northern Ireland and Scotland will also receive automatic protection from the “bedroom tax” levied on households deemed to have more rooms than they need, saving them an average of £684 and £630 per year. In England and Wales, support for bedroom tax costs is discretionary.

Differences across the UK in council tax support levels mean that a family in England with an average council tax bill receiving the maximum Council Tax Relief (CTR) would pay £248 per year compared to zero in Scotland and Wales.

In England alone there is a marked difference in the level of council tax support devolved. Families who live in a Band D property and are eligible for full CTR in Doncaster pay nothing. But if you move across the border to North Lincolnshire, which offers up to 50% CTR and cap support in Band B, you’ll pay £1,400 a year.

The devolved welfare policy, driven in part by the devolved government’s desire to adopt more generous local payments and protections than those provided by the UK government, would add around £1 billion a year to UK social security spending in 2023-24, raising questions about its affordability in some quarters.

Most of the additional spending was in Scotland, which has the greatest scope to shape its own social security policy. This was driven by the Scottish National Party’s adoption of a child benefit of £28.20 per week per child for low-income families through universal credit and top-ups for other benefits, from carer support to winter fuel payments.

More generous social security benefits are at the heart of the Scottish Government’s ambition to reduce child poverty by 10% by 2030-31. As a result, child poverty rates are the lowest of the four UK countries, but current official forecasts show that the target will not be met without further investment.

There are no devolved social security powers in Wales, but the newly elected government, led by Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, has said it will test a Scottish-style £10 per week child benefit and lobbying for devolved tax and social security responsibilities.

The national snapshot was produced by a team of academics from three universities, together with the Resolution Foundation think tank and the Child Poverty Action Group.

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