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...
Housing associations, councils and the mayor of London have called on the government to hand over £5.2bn to protect housing in the capital against the impact of a no deal Brexit.
Not only has the reduced system of council tax support hit low-paid workers but it has proved remarkably ineffective as a way to raise revenue, says the IFS’ Stuart Adam and Thomas Pope.
The UK government is to provide an additional £200m of aid to Yemen, where millions of people are suffering in what has been called the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.
A more consistent approach to social housebuilding over the past 20 years could have saved the government £7bn in housing benefit payments, research has found.
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”.
When hard times hit, it is invariably women who are worst affected. But gender budgeting can help target public resources more effectively, CIPFA chief executive Rob Whiteman argues.
The government must lift the benefits freeze to stop increasing numbers of people falling into poverty, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation chief executive Campbell Robb.
The government has side-stepped “the cruellest benefit cut in history” with the latest universal credit changes, according to the chair of the work and pensions committee.
An overhaul of Scottish economic and social policy will be needed in the face of global automation, which threatens a third of jobs by 2030, a leading think-tank has claimed.