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17 Apr 13
Unemployment rose to 7.9% in the three months to February, prompting suggestions that the labour market is beginning to reflect economic reality.
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15 Apr 13
The number of households expected to be affected by the government’s cap on benefits has fallen by 16,000 to 40,000, the Department for Work and Pensions has revealed.
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10 Apr 13
Scotland is better placed economically than the rest of the UK to afford pension commitments, benefits and other social welfare costs, according to a Scottish Government report.
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8 Apr 13
Disability campaigners have warned that more than half a million disabled people are set to lose out financially as benefit changes come into force this week.
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4 Apr 13
MPs have urged ministers to look again at the costs of creating a single-tier state pension, warning that bringing forward the change could have ‘significant implications’ for public sector employers.
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3 Apr 13
This month, local authorities face one of their trickiest balancing acts yet. They have to meet the twin challenges of government changes to council tax support and business rates, without losing out...
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3 Apr 13
MPs today urged the Department for Work and Pensions to re-examine the impact of the ‘bedroom tax’, warning that the Housing Benefit reductions could hit divorced parents and disabled people.
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2 Apr 13
Chancellor George Osborne today insisted that the welfare reforms taking effect this month were fair and would ‘make work pay’.
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2 Apr 13
The controversial ‘bedroom tax’ is the latest in a tsunami of benefit cuts. And with Housing Benefit caps and cuts to disability payments, claimants are feeling the squeeze. Claudia Wood investigates
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27 Mar 13
The government needs to ensure people without internet access do not lose out as more public services, including Universal Credit, are moved online, the National Audit Office said today.
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26 Mar 13
Next week’s Housing Benefit cuts could have ‘a severe impact’ on the poorest people in the UK, the Public Accounts Committee warned today.
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25 Mar 13
Scottish local authorities today criticised the UK government’s ‘extreme and ill thought-out’ welfare reforms, warning they could have ‘a real and long-term damaging effect on the most vulnerable in...
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25 Mar 13
Prime Minister David Cameron has today announced plans to restrict migrants’ rights to council housing and welfare benefits.
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22 Mar 13
The head of the Social Market Foundation has challenged the chancellor’s claim that Annually Managed Expenditure is ‘out of control’ and warned that the proposed reforms will be ‘tricky’ to implement.
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19 Mar 13
The government is to ‘massively extend’ the tax-free childcare support available to working parents with young children, Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced...
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18 Mar 13
A bigger share of public spending will be focused on health, pensioner benefits and debt interest payments by 2017/18, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.
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14 Mar 13
The public sector is ‘woefully underprepared’ for the impact of an ageing society and urgent government action is needed to avert a crisis in English health and social care services, peers warned...
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12 Mar 13
The government has agreed to exempt more groups from its controversial ‘bedroom tax’ following sustained pressure from MPs and campaigners.
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5 Mar 13
More than half of the town halls developing new Council Tax Benefit schemes to take effect in April will receive cash to keep bills down, local government minister Brandon Lewis announced today.
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4 Mar 13
Councils in England have helped to improve the lives of more than 1,600 problem families in just nine months, according to figures published today.
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4 Mar 13
Charities, housing associations and other local organisations should be given a greater role in employment services to ensure Universal Credit benefit changes do not damage deprived areas, according...
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28 Feb 13
The number of councils concerned about the impact of Whitehall policies has doubled in the last year, an analysis by Grant Thornton has found.
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28 Feb 13
The coalition's flagship Universal Credit programme remains on track although it has been taken over by a Whitehall troubleshooter, the government's chief operating officer has insisted.
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22 Feb 13
The government’s flagship Work Programme had an ‘extremely poor’ record of finding jobs for the unemployed in its first 14 months in operation, the Public Accounts Committee said today.
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20 Feb 13
Child poverty campaigners are pressing councils to prioritise the needs of low-income families as figures published today showed wide disparities in wealth across the UK.