This research explores the experiences of some of the most vulnerable young people. The causes of youth homelessness are many and complex, though the main driver is family breakdown. The young people in this research described their own, often complex, experiences such as close family bereavements or family breakdown that resulted in them having to leave home.
Some also described the impact of mental health problems, substance misuse issues, and criminal activity. Homelessness resulted in disruption to employment or education while they sought a stable housing situation and support for personal issues.
Executive Summary
Many homeless young people were in a position where they needed to earn money and support themselves financially in order to avert their homelessness. In taking on precarious employment, they did not have the autonomy to weigh up the level of pay against job security and consistency as they needed money quickly.
None of the young people interviewed worked a ‘typical’ number of hours per week but instead worked greatly varying hours. The research also highlighted that homeless young people are subject to one-sided flexibility, where businesses transfer financial risk to the young person.
As the majority of interviewees were struggling to meet their immediate living costs, it is unsurprising that all but one of the young people interviewed were unable to save anything for the future. Being unable to save keeps young people trapped in supported accommodation for much longer than they need to be, preventing others from entering the supported housing system.
Overall, precarious employment is insufficient to enable young people to leave homelessness behind
Key findings and recommendations
Findings
The homeless young people interviewed were confused about Universal Credit’s interaction with employment and experienced a variety of problems including:
- Benefits stopping without anyone explaining why
- Receiving an incorrect amount of benefit because the system is not responsive to fluctuating hours. Benefit payments could reflect their previous, rather than current, circumstances
- The amount of benefit received changing because their employer paid them irregularly, making it difficult to manage their money
- DWP staff updating a claimant commitment because the young person had been offered precarious employment but had not actually been given any shifts yet
Recommendations
- The Government should review the way Universal Credit interacts with Housing Benefit for residents in supported exempt accommodation to prevent young people from falling into rent arrears.
Supported accommodation residents continue to pay their rent with Housing Benefit, while claiming the standard allowance of Universal Credit for their living costs. However the way the two benefits interact means that claimants lose their entitlement to full Housing Benefit as soon as they earn enough to take them off Universal Credit standard allowance. This cliff edge pushes young people into rent arrears.
- The Government should provide grants to apprentices and those on traineeships aged 16 to 25 who cannot live at home to help cover the costs of travel, other work-related expenses as well as their living costs.
For young people who cannot live at home, such as those in supported accommodation, the low minimum wage rates for apprenticeships are not sufficient to cover the costs of independent living and traineeships are completely unpaid. Additional financial support is required to ensure that apprenticeship and traineeship programmes, which can have positive, long-term labour market returns, are accessible to these groups.
- The Government should extend eligibility for the lower rate work allowance within Universal Credit to young people living in supported accommodation.
This would allow young people in supported accommodation to keep more of what they earn; enabling them to take on more hours and helping them to save up for the costs of moving out.
- Jobcentre Plus partnership managers should develop and publish a local young person’s skills pathway.
The offer should outline services offered by local education and training providers, and third sector organisations, which can assist young people to achieve key qualifications such as Functional Skills or work-related training courses.
- The Government should invest in further promoting traineeships and recognise that participation in one is a positive outcome.
Traineeships are a vital stepping stone for those young people who are ready to enter the workplace but need to build skills and experience. Supporting young people to complete qualifications would provide them with an earnings premium in later life and increase their chances of finding better paid, stable employment.
- The Government should ensure that measures to address the issue of ‘one-sided flexibility’ between workers and their employer should also apply to those employed via recruitment agencies.
Measures proposed by the Low Pay Commission include a right to reasonable notice of work schedules and providing workers with compensation for shifts cancelled without reasonable notice. These measures could limit the unpredictability of agency workers schedules and help them to better manage their finances.
Author note:
This report summarises Buzzeo, J., Morwenna, B., Martin, A. & Newton, B. (2019) Experiences of homeless young people in precarious employment.
Special thanks goes to Jonathan Buzzeo, Morwenna Byford, Alex Martin and Becci Newton at the Institute for Employment Studies for conducting this research on behalf of Centrepoint.