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...
MPs today hit out at the ‘extraordinarily poor’ implementation of Universal Credit by the Department for Work and Pensions, saying it had led to public money being wasted.
The average Briton is in denial about the burgeoning costs of old age. But then, so are politicians. Radical reforms to the housing and planning systems are needed to avert a pensions and care crisis
There was a 21% rise in the number of council households in rent arrears in England in the three months to June, according to a survey of council housing bodies.
The government’s flagship Universal Credit has been rolled out to another local authority area, with new jobseekers in Hammersmith in London beginning to receive the combined payment
The benefit cap will struggle to fulfil its two main objectives of saving public money and encouraging people into work, the Chartered Institute of Housing said today as it published the results of...
The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has fallen in every local authority in Britain over the last 12 months, according to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Councils and other social landlords in Scotland face a rising tide of rent arrears as a consequence of the UK coalition’s ‘bedroom tax’, according to an expert report for the Scottish Parliament’s...
Northern Ireland will be hit harder by the government’s welfare reforms than any other part of the UK, with cuts set to take around £750m out the economy, charities have warned.
Cuts to Housing Benefit as a result of the government’s welfare cap could leave councils in London with a £25m bill to provide extra support to homeless people, a report has warned today.
The government should reform tax reliefs to encourage people to save for the future costs of adult social care through their pension scheme, according to a report published by a law firm today
Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that the ‘crisis’ in the public finances caused by the government’s deficit is not over, and he indicated further cuts to spending will be needed.
The ‘friends and family test’ used to judge the quality of NHS hospitals is to expanded to other public services, including job centres and further education colleges, Cabinet Office minister Francis...
The government's controversial new back-to-work scheme is to be piloted in two parts of the UK, the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said today.
Erick Pickles has upstaged Iain Duncan Smith when it comes to pushing through radical benefit reforms. Peter Kenway explains how Council Tax Support, not Universal Credit, became the big welfare...