Universal Credit: Making Universal Credit Work for People Facing Homelessness

Crisis work directly with thousands of homeless people every year, providing support and advice so people can rebuild their lives and move on from homelessness for good. In recent years they have run several pilots with Jobcentres to try and bridge the gap between housing and employment services.

Saskia Neibig has worked at Crisis since March 2020, leading on welfare policy work, including the Local Housing Allowance and the Benefit Cap. She has worked on joint pilots with the DWP, reporting on the role that Jobcentres can play in preventing homelessness. Prior to Crisis, Saskia worked as a policy adviser at HM Treasury.

In this session from the Universal Credit Conference, 2021, Saskia outlined why DWP employment services should be better joined up with housing services to help those at risk of or experiencing homelessness. She also reported on lessons from and the successes of Crisis’s partnership with Jobcentres across the UK.

Crisis, the homelessness charity, has called for better partnership working between housing and employment services. We heard from Saskia Neibig, Policy and Public Affairs Officer at Crisis about the benefits of training Jobcentre staff on housing issues, as well as the successes of pilot partnerships between Jobcentres and Crisis.