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Precarious Experiences: Citizens' Frustrations, Anxieties and Burdens of an Online Welfare Benefit System

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Colin WatsonORCiD, Adam Parnaby, Dr Ahmed KharrufaORCiD

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Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

There is a significant overlap between people who are supported by income-related social welfare benefits, often in precarious situations, and those who experience greater digital exclusion. We report on a study of claimants using the UK's Universal Credit online welfare benefit system designed as, and still, "digital by default". Through data collection involving remote interviews (n=11) and online surveys (n=66), we expose claimants' own lived experiences interacting with this system. The claimants explain how digital channels can contribute to an imbalance of power and agency, at a time when their own circumstances mean they have reduced abilities, resources and capacities, and where design choices can adversely affect people's utility to leverage help from their own wider socio-technical ecosystems. We contribute eight recommendations from these accounts to inform the future design and development of digital welfare benefit systems for this population, to reduce digital barriers and harms.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Watson C, Parnaby AW, Kharrufa A

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: arXiv

Year: 2024

Online publication date: 14/05/2024

Acceptance date: 14/05/2024

Date deposited: 15/05/2024

Publisher: arXiv

URL: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2405.08515

DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2405.08515

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/3r4s-4g74

Data Access Statement: Data and materials created during this research are available at https://doi.org/10.25405/data.ncl.c.6746076 in Newcastle University’s data repository.

Notes: Pre-print (non-peer reviewed) paper distributed via arXiv.org under CC BY licence


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
EP/L016176/1EPSRC
EPSRC

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