Welfare

The government is defeated in the House of Lords on its plans to cap the amount non-working households receive in benefits. Channel 4 News analyses the plans.

Disability campaigners have urged the government to scrap many aspects of planned welfare reforms after several defeats in the Lords.

As the House of Lords debates the welfare reform bill, Lisa Egan explains why she and other disabled people are concerned about the government’s plans.

Britain faces a difficult year in 2012, says the prime minister in his new year’s message – but he pledges the coalition government will do “everything it takes” to get the country up to strength.

With austerity looming, pension strikes back on the agenda and youth unemployment on the rise, is intergenerational conflict inevitable? Channel 4 News hears from both sides.

Amid growing fears of intergenerational conflict in difficult economic times, Saga’s Ros Altmann writes for Channel 4 News on why the needs, rights and talents of our ageing population matter.

Working parents and businesses will benefit most from George Osborne’s autumn statement, as the chancellor tries to boost the ailing UK economy. Channel 4 News looks at what to watch out for.

Home births for first-time mothers in England carry a slightly higher risk for babies compared to those born in hospitals, according to a new study.

Nearly half a million older people receive care in their own homes paid for by the local authority. But Channel 4 News has seen evidence the system is struggling to cope.

Channel 4 News Social Affairs Editor Jackie Long finds the government’s employment support allowance is being dogged by endless and repeated appeals as claimants are found fit, then unfit, for work.

Eighteen Church of England bishops have criticised the government’s welfare reforms, which they say will leave children facing “severe poverty and potentially homelessness”.

As the latest unemployment figures are released, Social Affairs Editor Jackie Long looks at one group of people who seem to be particularly badly affected – women.

The number of children – some as young as five – being prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs has doubled in the past 10 years, according to an investigation by Channel 4 News.

As the prime minister outlines plans to shake up adoption, including publishing council league tables, an expert explains to Channel 4 News that the focus should be on the needs of the child.

Patients remain at risk of poor care at two hospitals operated by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, a report warns – following a Channel 4 News investigation.