Few would question the aims of universal credit – to deliver a more streamlined welfare system that pays benefits directly to claimants. But a series of funding cuts and failings mean it may never...
MPs have criticised the government’s decision to reject their calls to ease benefit sanctions for claimants, saying the system is pushing people into “grinding poverty”.
The government must lift the benefits freeze to stop increasing numbers of people falling into poverty, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation chief executive Campbell Robb.
Labour wants to create a benefits system based on “compassion and respect rather than distrust and stigma”, the shadow work and pensions secretary Margaret Greenwood has told her party conference.
Child poverty has risen twice as fast as official figures suggest and has been significantly underestimated in government data, a think-tank has warned.
A charity is demanding a major shake up in the social security system because of “shameful” shortcomings that left one and a half million people in destitution in 2017.
Any future recession will hit the poorest families even harder if proposed benefit cuts go ahead, according to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Homelessness will rise unless the freeze is lifted on the Local Housing Allowance rate for families in the private rented sector, council leaders have warned.
Making claimants wait six weeks for their first universal credit payment is “cruel” and should be cut from six weeks to one month as a matter of urgency, according to a cross-party group...
Councils could see a reduction in the money they receive to ensure a target numbers of homes are built in their areas, the housing minister has warned.
Councils in the UK have called on the government to pause or slow down the roll of universal credit as they divert their own scarce funds into helping financially struggling claimants.
The government should end the benefits freeze rather than increasing the personal tax allowance to help struggling families, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
