The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Benefit cap
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31/05/2017
The true cost of austerity
The human cost of government imposed austerity should be a key issue, argue Vickie Cooper and David Whyte. Drawing on their new book, 'The Violence of Austerity', they set out how austerity is shaping people's lives and deaths.
Category: Articles -
19/02/2015
Four long years: Disabled workers and coalition policies
Rupert Harwood discusses research which he undertook between 2011 and 2013 which indicates that Government spending cuts have made it harder for disabled workers to remain in employment.
Category: Articles -
19/03/2014
Benefits bill capped at £119 billion
Total spending on most benefits and tax credits will be capped at £119.5 billion in 2015-16, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced in his 2014 Budget speech.
The so-called 'welfare cap' was originally proposed in the 2013 Spending Round. It excludes spending on state pensions and 'automatic stabilisers' (mainly jobseeker's allowance and its passported housing benefit). The level of the cap will rise in line with forecast inflation to £122 billion in 2016-17, £124.6 billion in 2017-18 and £126.7 billion in 2018-19.
The coalition government said the cap will 'ensure that significant increases in spending do not go uncorrected'.
The Child Poverty Action Group commented: 'Announcing a cap for social security spending without a plan to address the root causes of low pay, high rents and high childcare costs, simply forces the most vulnerable in society to pay the price for inaction'.
Category: News stories -
06/02/2014
Over 36,400 households hit by benefit cap
Over 36,400 households have been caught by the coalition government's benefits cap since April 2013, 96 per cent of them households with children, according to new official statistics.
The benefit cap limits the amount of benefits a household can receive to £500 a week for couples (with or without children) and lone-parent households, and to £350 a week for a single adult with no children.
Category: Reports -
03/02/2014
Benefit cap hits vulnerable children
Families in England with vulnerable children who face homelessness are being forced to move far away because the coalition government's benefits cap means they can no longer pay the rent, according to a report from the Action for Children charity.
For working-age households where no one is in work, benefits have since September 2013 been limited to a total of £500 a week (£350 a week in the case of single people).
Category: Reports -
22/11/2013
Levels of benefits paid to households – FOI request
Official figures for the level of benefits received by households have been revealed as a result of a freedom of information request.
A table published by the Department for Work and Pensions shows the average amount of benefits and/or tax credits paid between April 2011 and March 2012, in bands of £1,000. The payments relate to 'benefit units' – defined as a single adult, or a married or cohabiting couple and any dependent children. The figures include income from the full range of benefits, for all ages, including working-age benefits (income related and otherwise), disability benefits, retirement pension and child benefit, as well as tax credits.
Category: Reports -
05/11/2013
Lone mothers lose legal challenge to benefit cap
Three lone mothers and their children have lost a legal challenge to the coalition government's household benefit cap. Judges in the High Court ruled that regulations brought in by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith are lawful and do not breach human rights under European law.
The £500-a-week cap affects housing benefit, child benefit and child tax credit for families not working enough hours to get working tax credit.
Lawyers acting for the families argued that the cap unlawfully discriminates against children and women, particularly those affected by domestic violence. They described the cap as a 'cruel and arbitrary' policy that will trap vulnerable women in violent relationships, and reduce capped household income to a level that will make it it impossible for parents to provide adequate food, clothing and other essentials for their children.Category: News stories -
23/10/2013
Benefit cap ‘failing to achieve its aims’
The coalition government's benefit cap will struggle to meet its aims of encouraging people into work and saving taxpayers' money, suggests an early report from the Chartered Institute of Housing.
The report is based on a study in the north London borough of Haringey, which was one of four boroughs chosen to implement the benefit cap as part of a first phase roll-out from April 2013.
Category: Reports -
10/10/2013
73 per cent support for benefit cap
A large majority of the public agree with the principle behind the benefit cap, and think that those affected by it should be prepared to find jobs or work more hours, according to an opinion survey carried out for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Ipsos MORI conducted an online survey of 2,017 British adults between 31 May and 5 June 2013.
Category: Reports -
20/09/2013
Call for left to back benefits spending cap
Capping overall spending on social security benefits and tax credits could provide an opportunity to advance centre-left objectives for reforming 'welfare', argues a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank.
The report draws on original polling data from YouGov on public attitudes towards social security and tax credit spending.
Category: Reports
