Making Life Affordable
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Making Life Affordable A community research report about the cost of living in Hartlepool September 2017 The opinions and views expressed in this report are those of the individuals the community research team spoke to. Views expressed do not always represent the views of the people and organisations involved in producing this report. 2 A few thanks A network of voluntary and community sector organisations and other service providers This report would not have been produced kindly allowed the research team to speak to without the expertise, hard work and people who passed through their doors, perseverance of the community research including: team, all of whom gave their time to the The Wharton Trust project on a voluntary basis. Brighter Brus Residents Group Special thanks are due to: Starvin’ Marvin’s Hartlepool Central Library Andrea Peart Stranton Seniors Maureen Draper York Road Paradox Church Mary Diver St. Joseph’s Breakfast Club Teresa Driver Asylum Seekers and Refugees Group Georgia Parker Hart Gables Lucy Patterson The Heart Centre Helen Laws Hartlepool Men’s Shed Peter Robinson Grange Road Luncheon Club Jill Barrett Epilepsy Outlook Jean Thompson Hartlepool Trussel Trust Foodbank Kris Middleton Hartfields Retirement Village Tracey Herrington Oxford Road Baptist Church Callum Hill Centre for Independent Living Carol Newmarsh Kilmarnock Road Children and Young Janet Phillips People Family Resource Centre Juli Simons Salaam Community Centre Andrew Gardner Bob Farrow Centre Thanks also to Alison Gobie for speaking with St. Hilda’s Diversity Day event Harbour’s service community. Last but not least, thanks to Roger Newton of 3Ps Consultancy for delivering the participatory research training and facilitating the research process. Photography: Jonathan Pow Supported by: 3 What’s in store? A few thanks ………………………… 3 In brief ……………………………….. 5 How did we do it? ………………...... 6 Who we spoke to …………………… 7 Our findings Household finances ………………. 8 Behaviour and culture ……………… 10 Benefits systems and processes …. 12 Life skills …………………………….. 14 Work and access to work ………….. 15 Health and well-being ……………… 16 Transport ……………………………. 17 Government …………………………. 18 Housing ……………………………… 19 Conclusion ………………………….. 20 4 In brief Life skills. The difficulty of accessing English language training and courses The community research team asked 228 was a big issue for non-English people who live or work in Hartlepool: what speakers. Budgeting and good money makes life unaffordable; what would make life management would make life more more affordable; and what makes life affordable*. affordable already? Work and access to work. The lack of Household finances. People said the good quality, well paid employment was cost of utility bills, food, raising children the most common theme under this and the cost of living in general make heading. Employment helps, and more, life most unaffordable. Reducing the better paid jobs would help even more. cost of food, leisure activities and utility bills were the main ideas under this Health and well being. Drugs, alcohol theme to make life more affordable. and smoking make life unaffordable*. Shopping around helps to make life Reinstating hospital services locally affordable. would make life more affordable. Behaviour and culture. Some people Transport. The cost of transport – bus think there is a lack of support and fares in particular – makes life resources to enable people to make unaffordable. Free transport and more informed decisions about money information about existing free transport management*. More funding for provision, would help. voluntary and community sector organisations would make life more Government. Some people think cuts in affordable. Support provided by family, public spending on local services could friends and social networks really helps, have been better managed. People as does good money management and thought more information about a range spending money wisely. of services and activities would be helpful, recognising that access to legal Benefits systems and processes. advice and guidance makes life Universal Credit was the main feature of affordable. discussion under this heading. In addition, the majority of comments did Housing. The cost of rent was the main not focus on the monetary value of issue under this theme, with welfare benefits, rather issues around suggestions to improve housing centring their administration and local delivery. A on cutting rents and improving landlord number of ideas focused on the need for management. better administration and delivery of welfare benefits locally. Information and *In most cases, these comments focused on what guidance helps, people said. other people should be doing, rather than being about interviewees’ personal situations. 5 How did we do it? Most team members received 20 hours of training in participatory research, delivered by 3Ps Consultancy, before attending mostly The research team used participatory pre-organised research sessions. Support research techniques to have semi-structured from local voluntary and community sector conversations with people about poverty and organisations – referenced in the the cost of living in Hartlepool. acknowledgements section – was essential in finding people to have conversations with. The participatory approach enabled the research team to build the trust of interviewees, such that the research process intended to be a series of inclusive conversations between local people about local issues. This meant lots of post-its and sweets, less clip boards and cold calling. While the approach is not intended to be statistically robust in the same way as other Asking ‘what makes life unaffordable’, or population studies might be, it offers a local ‘what hinders making ends meet’, the overview of people’s perceptions of poverty research team tried to identify the financial and the cost of living in Hartlepool. There is a pinch points in people’s lives. Asking ‘what reasonable amount of evidence relating to makes life affordable’, or ‘what helps to make national household spending patterns and ends meet’, they tried to find what is working poverty coping strategies; the research team – the ‘bright spots’. In addition, and most was interested in this information in the importantly, the team found out about local context of Hartlepool. people’s ideas to make life more affordable. In some cases, questions were directed at the interviewee’s personal financial situation; in others they were aimed at the experiences of the wider Hartlepool community. 6 Who we spoke to Themes The research team recorded a total of 701 In total, the research team spoke to 228 comments. There are more comments than people who live or work in Hartlepool. the number of people we spoke to, as people Age often made a couple of separate and distinctive points during the same The age of participants in the sample is conversation. slightly older than the population of Hartlepool as a whole. The research team identified themes across the findings. For example, lots of people said 1 Age Our sample Hartlepool things relating to their household finances 10 – 19 7% 12% 20 – 29 11% 13% make life unaffordable. People also told the 30 – 39 13% 12% researchers about how some aspects of 40 – 49 11% 13% behaviour and culture make life affordable. 50 – 59 20% 15% 60+ 26% 25% Some comments came under more than one Unknown 13% 0% theme: the cost of getting the bus to the hospital, for example, relates to both health Gender and transport. In terms of gender, 36% identified as male Theme % of all comments Household finances 21% and 43% as female. Data was not recorded Behaviour and culture 18% for the remaining 21%. This means, at least Benefits systems and processes 15% considering the interviewees we know about, Life skills 10% our sample is ‘more female’ than the Work and access to work 12% population of Hartlepool as a whole, which is Health and wellbeing 9% 49% male and 51% female2. Transport 6% Government-related 6% Ethnicity Housing 3% The overwhelming majority of people identified as white British (153), with 8 Headings identifying as black, Asian, Caribbean, mixed The research team wanted to find out about or other. This means 95% of the sample is the problems, ideas and success stories white, almost mirroring the ethnic makeup of relating to the cost of living in Hartlepool. the Hartlepool population which is 98% 2 white . Data on 46 respondents was not In total, half of the comments tell us about the recorded. problems (what makes life unaffordable); 30% are ideas (what could make life more affordable); and 20% tell us about what is already working (what makes life affordable). 1 Office for National Statistics. 2017. Population Estimates Analysis Tool. 2 Office for National Statistics. 2013. 2011 Census: Key statistics and quick statistics for local authorities in the United Kingdom 7 Household finances The cost of food was mentioned 15 times, with some comments highlighting the difficulty Household finances cropped up in 145 of travelling to large supermarkets where conversations or 21% the sample as a whole. products can be sold cheaper than in local convenience shops. The poorest fifth of UK households spends on average £33 a week on food and non-alcoholic drinks, or 15% of disposable income4. 47% of the value of UK food is produced abroad5. The cost of living in general was mentioned 14 times. “The cost of living is going up. I have to pay for lots of stuff using debt.” (Female, white, between 50 and 59 years old) What makes life unaffordable? “I think the cost of living is increasing, I know my income hasn't increased in a while An analysis of household spending suggests 2.5% of but I'm poorer at the end of the month each UK households were behind on council tax bills in month and can't think of any other reason 2014/15; 2.2% on water; 1.8% on electricity; 1.6% on why.” (Female, white, between 40 and 49 3 gas bills; and 1.4% on rent .