Iain Duncan Smith

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 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.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith says better-off older people should hand back benefits like free bus passes and free TV licences if they do not need them.

A cap on the amount of benefits people can receive on a weekly basis begins in London today amid a row over whether it will change behaviour.

The work and pensions secretary says the current system is “ridiculous” and government reforms are simply “common sense”.

As the petition calling for Iain Duncan Smith to live on £53 a week reaches nearly half a million signatures, the man who started it says it has sent “a powerful message to the government”.

Iain Duncan Smith says he could live on £53 a week – but could he? Channel 4 News looks at the numbers and speaks to one woman who is struggling to cope on this amount of money.

As a raft of benefit changes finally come into play today, MPs brush off criticism from churches and charities to insist the new system will be “fairer”.

When Iain Duncan Smith came to Easterhouse in Glasgow more than a decade ago, he pledged to change the system to help some of Britain’s poorest. But the change has not been what residents hoped for.

Welfare Secretary Ian Duncan Smith announces changes to controversial cuts in housing benefit, dubbed the “bedroom tax” by opponents. Ciaran Jenkins reports.

A flat-rate state pension from 2017, worth £144 for new pensioners, is announced by the government, amid warnings of a “con trick” and fears of a demand for higher contributions.