Child poverty has risen twice as fast as official figures suggest and has been significantly underestimated in government data, a think-tank has warned.
Work and pensions secretary Esther McVey has come under pressure to withdraw what have been described as misleading remarks about the success of the universal credit programme.
Universal credit is pushing additional costs onto councils, while the overall scheme may never provide value for money, according to the National Audit Office.
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.
Thousands of unemployed or extremely low earners in Britain are missing out on financial support because they are not claiming the benefits they are entitled to, according to a think-tank.
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.
Council housing managers have urged the government to halt the rolling introduction of Universal Credit, which they said is causing “considerable hardship” to tenants.
The Scottish Government has announced the first changes to its benefits regime under the welfare powers devolved by last year’s Scotland Act – but was criticised by its opponents for not...
The government’s plans to increase the support available to in-work claimants of its flagship Universal Credit benefit could represent the most significant welfare reform since 1948, but are...
The government’s Universal Credit benefit reform scheme must be “reclaimed” from the Treasury in order to achieve its aim of making work pay, the Resolution Foundation has warned today.
Prime minister David Cameron has announced a help-to-save scheme that could see the government top up 3.5 million low-income people’s savings by £1,200.
The government’s Universal Credit reforms will create “huge disincentives” for families receiving the payment to have more than £6,000 in savings, according to an analysis by...
Universal Credit will cut annual benefit spending by £2.7bn, an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found, but more than 2 million working families are likely to be worse off.
Labour has said that cuts to benefit entitlements being introduced through Universal Credit mean controversial tax credit reductions have been “rebranded” by the government rather than reversed.
