Research will be first to study LGBT+ experience of welfare system
In a world first, a major new research project is being launched to examine the experiences of LGBT+ people when accessing the benefits system in the UK.
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In a world first, a major new research project is being launched to examine the experiences of LGBT+ people when accessing the benefits system in the UK.
Led by social policy expert Dr Peter Matthews at the University of Stirling and supported by a £236,000 funding grant from the Nuffield Foundation, the study aims to provide important insights to improve the effectiveness of welfare support for minority groups.
Through analysing existing data and conducting new interviews with those who identify as LGBT+, the research team will investigate how these groups have fared through recent periods of welfare austerity, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and identify any barriers faced in accessing state welfare and managing their circumstances.
Faculty of Social Sciences
The arrangements of welfare state provision in the UK, where you are expected to be in a heterosexual nuclear family, and have a home or other assets to support you in later life, may be ill-suited to LGBT+ people. This research seeks to produce a full picture of the LGBT+ experience for the first time.
Dr Matthews said: “Our analysis will produce the world’s first, in-depth study into LGBT+ people and welfare outcomes in an advanced economy.
“Welfare provision in the UK has always been designed around the heterosexual nuclear family. In the past it has faced criticism for making sexist, racist and ableist assumptions. However, issues of sexuality and gender diversity have not been investigated. This is despite evidence that some LGBT+ people have lower incomes over their life course, higher rates of homelessness, and are more likely to suffer from mental health issues.
“LGBT+ people can also lack traditional sources of support or welfare ‘buffers’ such as family wealth and housing assets. For example, lesbians and gay men struggled to get mortgage finance in the UK for decades. Many LGBT+ people find themselves homeless after coming-out.
“The arrangements of welfare state provision in the UK, where you are expected to be in a heterosexual nuclear family, and have a home or other assets to support you in later life, may be ill-suited to LGBT+ people. This research seeks to produce a full picture of the LGBT+ experience for the first time.”
The study, 'Welfare Access, Assets And Debts Of LGBT+ People In The UK', will last 18 months and is being supported by Professor Paul Lambert and Dr Camilla Barnett of the University of Stirling, Dr Lee Gregory of the University of Nottingham, Dr Samuel Mann from Vanderbilt University and Sheffield Hallam University’s Dr Eleanor Formby.