The latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation annual report, finds that those who had been struggling to...
Government policy
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08/01/2013
Controversial welfare benefits cap approved
MPs have voted to approve the controversial capping of benefit increases over the next three years. The Welfare Benefits Up-Rating Bill, which has been given a second reading in Parliament, provides for an increase of just 1 per cent for most working-age benefits, child benefit and certain tax credit elements in 2014-15 and 2015-16, rather than being uprated in line with inflation (in addition to similar arrangements already announced for 2013-14). Carers' benefits and certain disability-related benefits will be exempt, along with pensions.
Category: Reports -
07/01/2013
The welfare uprating bill penalises the poor, again
by Stewart Lansley
The coalition government’s proposal to strip nearly £4 billion from the welfare bill by capping increases in benefit levels to 1%, well below inflation, marks another shift towards a welfare system that is no longer fit for its fundamental purpose of protecting those in need.
The move is a significant departure in the post-war history of welfare in the UK and is, indeed, unprecedented since the war. The last deliberate political move to lower the real incomes of the poorest members of society was more than eighty years ago in 1931. Then attempts to cut benefits for the unemployed split the cabinet and led to the collapse of the Labour government under Ramsey MacDonald. The uprating bill, before Parliament on January 8, 2013, raises a vital question: why should the poor pay the price for the failure of Britain’s economic model to deliver enough jobs and decent wages.
Category: Articles -
06/12/2012
Chancellor hits benefits again
Most benefits and tax credits for working-age people will be cut in real terms for three years in a row from 2013-14, under plans announced by the Chancellor in his 2012 Autumn Statement on the public finances.
The Chancellor admitted he would fail to meet his pledges on public borrowing as a result of worsening prospects for economic growth. Forecasts of growth from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility were revised down significantly for every year between 2012 and 2016. As a result, the Chancellor said, the government's 'austerity measures' would have to be extended until at least 2017-18 – three years longer than originally promised.
In overall terms, however, the measures outlined in the Autumn Statement were neutral in their effect on the public finances. Instead the Chancellor chose to make significant changes in the way spending cuts will fall on different groups and areas of spending.
Category: News stories -
20/11/2012
‘Government fails to deliver’ on income inequality
More action is needed to address income inequality, according to a collection of articles scrutinising the coalition government's record mid-way through its term of office. Despite early suggestions that inequality would be a high priority for the government, it has so far failed to deliver.
Category: Reports -
17/11/2012
Ex-minister calls benefits cap ‘immoral’
A former coalition minister has condemned the government's plan for a benefits cap as 'immoral'. Liberal Democrat Sarah Teather MP accuses the government of seeking to 'gain popularity at the expense of children's lives' and of demonising claimants.
Teather, who was a children's minister until sacked in September 2012, made the remarks in an interview with the Observer newspaper. From April 2013 the government will cap total household benefits at £500 a week for a family and £350 a week for a single person with no children.
Category: News stories -
05/11/2012
Response to Northern Ireland's Draft Budget
This paper is concerned with the likely impact of the Spending Review on living standards in Northern Ireland and especially the living standards of those with the lowest incomes. The cuts in Treasury funding for Northern Ireland are greater than many assume. By 2014-15 all Departments will have substantially lower current budgets in real terms than in 2010-11. The cuts in public spending are occurring in a context of a stagnant employment rate, rising unemployment and restricted opportunities for younger people.
Category: Policy response -
31/10/2012
Social justice – outcomes framework published
The government has published a framework for implementing its social justice strategy. It emphasises that the indicators set out in the framework are not a set of 'targets', but are instead designed to highlight priorities and identify where progress is (or is not) being made.
The framework is divided into five areas:
Supporting families. Keeping young people on track. The importance of work. Supporting the most disadvantaged adults. Delivering social justice.For each of these themes, the government says it will concentrate on 'one or two' indicators of progress. The first progress report is promised for March 2013.
Category: Reports -
24/10/2012
Policy based on unethical research
by Nick Bailey
In July this year, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published the Listening to Troubled Families report with a great fanfare. Its stated aim was ‘to inform [government] thinking and policy development’. At its launch, Secretary of State Eric Pickles hailed the report as providing ‘real insights into these families’ lives’ and as offering a ‘true understanding of the challenges local authorities face’. The government had set aside £448 million to tackle the problems identified. In short, the report was portrayed as a solid piece of research driving an ‘evidence-based’ approach to policy making.
Category: Articles -
16/10/2012
Universal credit ‘likely to help low-income families’
The new universal credit system is likely to increase financial help for working families on low incomes more than middle-income families, especially in the case of couple families. That's the conclusion of a 'preliminary assessment' of the government's planned scheme by think-tank researchers.
Category: Reports -
08/10/2012
Coalition plans £10 billion benefits cut?
Plans to cut a further £10 billion from social security spending by 2016-17 were signalled by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in his speech to the Conservative Party conference. These cuts would come on top of the £18 billion savings already announced by the government in 2010. In a joint newspaper article with Iain Duncan Smith, Work and Pensions Secretary, Osborne suggested that steps would be taken to limit the number of children in workless families for whom benefits are paid, and to withdraw housing benefit from young people under 25 who have never worked. Prime Minister David Cameron also specifically referred to housing benefit cuts for young people in his own conference speech a few days later.
Category: News stories
