The government is not doing enough to measure the impact of sanctions on people who are drawing benefits or on wider society, according to the National Audit Office.
MPs have warned that the government’s planned Work and Health Programme may be “front loaded for failure” due to the requirements being placed on jobcentre staff.
The number of households affected by the government’s cap on benefits will increase fourfold as a result of the tightening of the limit today, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.
Housing benefit overpayments are more likely to be identified when residents receive a separate communication written in clear language, a study conducted by five English councils and Capita suggests.
Labour would scrap Work Capability Assessments and the sanctions system for jobseekers as part what shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams called a plan to change the culture of the UK’s...
A root-and-branch review of the Scottish Parliament’s budgetary process is to be undertaken in order to reflect Holyrood’s increasing fiscal powers and its changing relationship with Westminster.
The government’s flagship universal credit scheme is on the road to recovery, according to an examination of the scheme by the Institute for Government.
Universal credit, which amalgamates six welfare benefits, still has cross-party support, despite being beset by delays and fears that it will fail to meet its main objective of encouraging people to...
The Scottish Welfare Fund, which provides support to individuals and families in financial need, has been underspent for a third successive year, prompting fears about how effective Scotland’s...
There should be a switch in how the government accounts for benefit spending as part of moves to introduce a “welfare earnback” for councils that can help people into work, a report has recommended.
Disabled people will find it more difficult to get back into work unless ministers re-evaluate welfare-to-work plans, retaining the contribution of the private and third sectors, a think-tank has...
It is vital that government and local commissioners ensure a level playing field and better quality in the commissioning and procurement of public services
There is little evidence that the introduction of the National Living Wage in April has hit the employment rate of lower paid workers, according to an analysis by the Resolution Foundation.
Manchester’s city leaders are eager to show local people that devolution is making a difference by improving services. However, without quick results and a reasonably strong local economy, the...
Supported accommodation must be exempt from the impending housing benefit cap in order to protect the most vulnerable and save piling additional pressures on councils and the NHS, the Local...
A new Scottish social security agency, an education reform summit, and a 50-50 gender balance law for public boards are among the priorities for the Scottish National Party’s third term in government...
Pensioners aged over 75 are thousands of pounds a year worse off than both their younger ‘baby boomer’ counterparts and working age adults, according to the charity Independent Age.
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...
Charities have called on local authorities to end the use of bailiffs against vulnerable residents after finding that council tax arrears have hit record levels.
