Universal Credit and mental wellbeing study
Published: 14 March 2018
A new study led by the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit will be the first to comprehensively evaluate the impacts and costs of Universal Credit (UC) on mental health and health inequalities
A new study led by the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit will be the first to comprehensively evaluate the impacts and costs of Universal Credit (UC) on mental health and health inequalities.
The study is funded by NIHR and led by the SPHSU’s Professor Peter Craig, and Professor Clare Bambra, Newcastle University. It also involves researchers from the Universities of Essex, Liverpool, Manchester and Northumbria.
The project will:
- compare the mental health and wellbeing of adults and children in households receiving UC with those receiving "legacy benefits"
- analyse Citizens Advice surveys to identify what features of the UC process cause difficulties for claimants
- interview claimants and Job Centre staff in the North East of England and West of Scotland
- develop a new simulation model to predict impacts on income, employment and health of different ways of proving UC.
First published: 14 March 2018