Jackie Long
Will the universal benefits plan have to be redrawn?
Two reports attacking major areas of the government’s planned benefits reforms suggest there may come a point when the universal credit policy has to be redrawn.
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Jackie Long
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Big Issue founder: my magazine gives a hand-up, not hand-out
As the work and pensions secretary says vendors of the Big Issue exploited a loophole allowing immigrants access to UK benefits, the magazine’s founder says the Big Issue saves the taxpayer money.
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Jackie Long
Doubts over disability figures
A complaint about Department for Work and Pensions claims about Disability Living Allowance is upheld by the UK Statistics Authority.
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Paul Mason
Life of a food bank user: no gas, no cooker, benefits delayed
Benefit delays or benefit sanctions are the major factor driving people to use food banks says the charity that runs hundreds of them across the country.
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‘Bedroom tax’ – one year on, is it working?
It is 12 months since the government removed its spare room subsidy, dubbed the “bedroom tax” by critics. It is designed to save money and free up under-occupied homes, so what effect has it had?
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Gary Gibbon
Welfare – caps and traps
One former Labour cabinet minister said he’d be looking very carefully tonight at the size and make-up of Labour’s rebellion on the welfare trap (sorry, “cap”) devised by George Osborne.
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Gary Gibbon
Work programme needs more work
It’s not written in the most strident language, but a report the government has been sitting on contains confirmation that one of the DWP’s pet projects is failing in one of its central tasks.
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Victoria Macdonald
Benefit reforms could push full-time carers into debt and food poverty
Full-time carers, who take a huge spending burden off government, are facing a £1bn cut in support over the next four years.
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Coalition putting stop to ‘Benefits Street’ Britain – IDS
The work and pensions secretary defends the coalition’s welfare reforms, which he says are making people feel “more secure” about the future.
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Tories split over Osborne’s welfare cuts strategy
Cracks in the government’s welfare strategy open up after allies of Iain Duncan Smith round on George Osborne for announcing a further £12bn in benefit cuts.
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Speak English or risk losing benefits, migrants warned
Migrants will be questioned about their English language skills before being able to claim income-related benefits.
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Coalition’s benefit reforms are on track – Duncan Smith
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith rejects claims that the introduction of the government’s flagship universal credit reforms is in chaos.
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Benefit sanctions causing ‘great hardship’
Penalising benefit claimants who are not deemed to be doing enough to find work is leaving people without any money to live on, according to research from the Citizens Advice Bureau.
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Inflation: the good and bad news for pensioners
In post-recession Britain, pensions are rising faster than earnings. But older people would be better off if RPI was still used to calculate pensions, writes Economics Producer Neil Macdonald.
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Tenants in arrears ‘because of bedroom tax’
Half of tenants hit by the so-called “bedroom tax” have been pushed into rent arrears just weeks after its introduction, according to the body representing housing associations.
