Welfare
Economic recovery will be spread unevenly
Last year, Centre for Cities reported that the recession had widened the gap between UK cities; today, they warn that the recovery might also play out unevenly.
Who’d have thought it – ‘real’ welfare is working
Is Britain really broken? New findings suggest that the growth of so called 'welfare dependency' may be massively overstated, reports Daisy Blacklock.
Simplification, sanctions and cuts won’t create jobs
Over the last few days the coalition has been keen to sell Universal Credit as the answer to all the labour market's problems. After the deepest recession in decades, they are confident they can reduce worklessness by 300,000 jobs (a 'conservative' estimate), reduce child and working age poverty, reduce working-age welfare expenditure by £18 billion and make everyone in work better off, simply by reforming the welfare system.
Northern Ireland’s cuts double whammy
In further evidence that the coalition’s claims the NHS budget is ring fenced are questionable at best, Northern Ireland health minister, Michael McGimpsey, has warned that without protection for his department’s budget, the NHS across Northern Ireland faces the prospects of significant job losses.
Alexander: Welfare reform is meaningless amidst jobless recovery
Douglas Alexander used his first major speech as Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions to criticise the Coalition Government's welfare proposals - and warned Iain Duncan Smith that his reforms will be meaningless against a backdrop of £18billion in welfare cuts and a jobless recovery.
Number of working people living in poverty rises
The number of families living in poverty has grown by 200,000 in the past year. There are more children in poverty whose parents work than those who do not - highlighting that it is not just unemployment that causes poverty. New analysis reveals that in 2008/2009, there were 3.4 million families classed as "working poor".