Centrepoint has been campaigning to Make Work Pay and end the benefit trap for young people in supported housing.
For the last year we have been calling on the Chancellor to fix a cruel quirk in the system that can leave young people worse off when entering work. It’s an injustice affecting thousands of young people, and one we’ve been determined to see fixed.
With supporters, partners and young people at the heart of this campaign, we’ve spent the last 12 months advocating on this issue in Parliament, across the sector and in the public eye.
We asked as many people as possible to add their voice, and thousands of our amazing campaigners stepped up. Together, we sent a strong message to the government: young people deserve a system that makes work pay – and we won’t stop until they have it.
What did we achieve last year?
After a period of rapid campaigning, the Department for Work and Pensions Minister Stephen Timms committed to analysing and evaluating how Universal Credit and Housing Benefit interact for young people in supported accommodation. It was a vital breakthrough: the government recognised the issue.
But, we knew that was just the start.
So our supporters, sector colleagues and corporate partners helped us demonstrate the breadth of backing for young people in supported housing. We came to the Budget this year with thousands of campaigners behind us and a simple message: a benefit system that disincentivises work and hinders ambition is a broken system.
So what happened?
We won.
Every year, the campaign builds towards the Autumn Budget – the moment we learn whether our collective efforts have secured change, or whether we must keep pushing.
We’ve driven a consistent drumbeat of public pressure, political engagement and sector unity:
Over 17,000 campaigners called on the government to Make Work Pay
Over 10,800 wrote to their MP
More than 7,300 signed an open letter to the Chancellor from a young person with lived experience
Over 150 organisations joined the Youth Chapter Collective open letter to the Chancellor
Six major businesses – including Nationwide Building Society, The Co-operative Bank and Coventry Building Society – publicly backed the campaign
Over 50 MPs directly engaged with the issue
Media coverage of the campaign in made it into the BBC, the Guardian, the Telegraph, The Mirror and House Magazine
And today during the Autumn Budget, the Treasury committed to fixing the system.
This marks a turning point for thousands of young people in supported housing.
It opens up the chance to work more hours, to take on new types of work, pursue their career ambitions and to improve their lives – without the fear of being left financially worse off. It removes a barrier that young people at risk of homelessness have been fighting against for years.
This campaign win was an incredible united effort of young people, frontline experts, the homelessness and young people sector and corporate partners all pushing in the same direction.
We demonstrated that campaigning works.
What does this mean for young people in supported housing?
Today, the Chancellor committed to fixing a cruel quirk in the benefit system that punished ambition and left young people in supported housing with less money once they worked more than a certain number of hours.
This is a significant victory for those trying to escape homelessness, particularly for young people at the start of their careers. This would not have been possible without our incredible campaigners and partners, particularly those who have joined our calls for the government to make work pay over the last year.
The changes announced today will make it easier for young people in supported housing to pursue careers, escape homelessness and move on into independence.
And today, we can say it proudly: we made work pay.