More than 3,600 people are now receiving the government’s Universal Credit benefit, the Department for Work and Pensions has said, ahead of the reform being expanded into two new areas later this...
No Scottish tenant will face eviction as a result of the so-called bedroom tax following an unprecedented Budget deal between Labour and the Scottish National Party Government at Holyrood.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has defended the government’s controversial Universal Credit benefit reforms, telling MPs he remained very confident the scheme would be successfully...
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today appealed to the UK government to lift the cap on discretionary housing payments after the Scottish Government found what it believes is the money needed to...
There are key questions about the beleaguered Universal Credit programme that Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith must answer when he appears before MPs today, the Institute for Government...
Labour will consider reforms to council tax as part of its commission on town hall finances, shadow local government minister Andy Sawford has revealed
Economic migrants from outside the European Union should have to pay a £2,000 advance on National Insurance contributions when they enter the UK, a think-tank has recommended.
A committee of MPs has urged the government to change how the performance of the Jobcentre Plus network is monitored to ensure there is the greatest possible incentive to get people into work.
Four out of five local authorities reduced entitlement to help with council tax bills after responsibility for Council Tax Benefit was devolved to the local level last April, the Institute for Fiscal...
The next government should prioritise increases in the threshold at which National Insurance contributions are paid in a bid to ease the squeeze in living standards, CentreForum has said
Almost 33,000 households have so far been affected by the government’s £26,000 annual cap on benefits, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions have revealed
Chancellor George Osborne today set out plans to cut an extra £25bn from public spending by the end of 2017/18 if the Conservatives win the next election, with welfare emerging as the main target for...
Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to maintain the ‘triple-lock’ on state pensions, meaning they are set to rise by at least 2.5% a year until 2020 if the Conservatives win the next election
A committee of MPs has called on the government to scrap the so-called bedroom tax after finding that the reform had placed a ‘cruel burden’ on vulnerable people.
The Department for Work and Pensions has written off more than £40m of computing systems following problems in the implementation of the Universal Credit benefit reform, the auditor general has...
Soaring rents are forcing more working people to rely on Housing Benefit, with the number of employed claimants more than doubling since 2009, the National Housing Federation has warned.
Introduction of the Universal Credit will lead to a £600m reduction in welfare spending after the government announced that allowances in the benefit would be frozen for three years, an analysis of...
The nationwide rollout of the government’s Universal Credit benefit reform is unlikely to meet the 2017 target, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has admitted.
The Autumn Statement provided details of how the cap on overall welfare spending will be work in practice, with the House of Commons having to sanction any breaches
Current levels of state spending are ‘reckless’ and ‘suffocating’ businesses, a Conservative MP claimed today in a pamphlet for the Right-wing Centre for Policy Studies think-tank.
National Insurance should be scrapped and replaced with ‘personal welfare accounts’ that provide an income during periods of joblessness, parental leave, higher education and retirement, a think-tank...
