Universal Credit:
Inside the Welfare State
1x 60 minute film for BBC2 as part of a three-part series | BBC Current Affairs
Filmed, Produced and Directed
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“How to make a series about this most contentious of live issues without seeming politically loaded? The answer is by giving a human face to not just those suffering at the sharp end of a new system — designed, ironically, to make the benefits process simpler — but the Jobcentre employees and government chiefs accountable for actually implementing it.”
★★★★ The Times
In 2019, I spent five months filming at Toxteth Job Centre in Liverpool, as part of a BBC2 series which follows the Department for Work and Pensions. The series represented the first time the DWP had granted acess to a film crew in 20 years.
In Toxteth, I made a film which tells the stories of Liverpudlians who are trying to navigate the complex and punitive Universal Credit system. People like Sue - a mother and former nursery worker who has been pushed back into work as a cleaner instead of being able to retire. The film also examines the perspective of DWP employees who are caught up in trying to serve the local community in challenging circumstances.