Benefits

After George Osborne says he wants to deliver a surplus in the next parliament, Sajid Javid, economic secretary to the treasury, joins Chris Leslie, shadow treasury minister, to discuss the economy.

Labour will pledge to scrap one of the Conservatives’ most controversial policies. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne explains why. Michael Hancock, skills minister, defends it.

Social housing tenants in Fife are using housing law from the 1980s to successfully challenge demands for extra rent under the so-called bedroom tax.

Those who try to claim benefits they are not entitled to will face a maximum of 10 years in jail as part of a crackdown by the director of public prosecutions on those who “flout the system”.

The government is criticised by the public spending watchdog for the way it has handled preparations for its new universal credit, with ministers unsure how it would work and £34m written off.

The number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK has risen by more than a quarter in three months, official figures reveal.

There’s a new measure for fuel poverty – but it still shows millions of English households face a growing gap between the energy bills they need to pay and what they can afford.

Fading seaside towns have become “dumping grounds” for welfare claimants, vulnerable people and those on low incomes, a think-tank report warns.

A gallery of images of some of Britain’s seaside towns – once glorious, now just ‘dumping grounds’ for the poor, according to one report.

Judges rule that the government’s new “bedroom tax” does not unlawfully discriminate against disabled people in social housing.

The new benefits cap, meaning couples and lone parents can receive no more than £500 a week from the state, is rolled out from Monday. But David Cameron’s Twitter endorsement of the cap backfires.

It is meant to make work pay, but a new report says universal credit could mean that some families with children end up with less money in their pockets.