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… but the Jobcentre employees and government chiefs accountable for actually implementing it.”
★★★★ The Times
Filmed, Produced and Directed by Dan Howell
Executive Producer: Sarah Waldron
Series Director: Chris McClaughlin | Series Producer: Tom Swingler
Producer: Emma Supple | Location Director: Jules Endersby
Editors: Jane Greenwood; Duncan Butler
A film about the Department for Work and Pensions and the stories of Liverpudlians trying to navigate the complex and punitive Universal Credit system.
Filmed over five months at Toxteth Job Centre, this episode of INSIDE THE WELFARE STATE charts the rollout of Universal Credit and what it means for the people of Liverpool. People like Sue, a grandmother and former nursery worker, who finds that she has to take additional work as a cleaner (instead of being able to retire) if she wants to keep her UC payments coming.
The film also examines the perspective of DWP employees at who are caught up in trying to serve the local community in challenging circumstances. The series represented the first time in 20 years that the DWP had granted access to a film crew.
