The Labour Party is pulling a genius move by trying to give Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) chief Esther McVey a taste of her own medicine.
McVey was criticised by the National Audit Office (NAO) over her claims about the government’s flagship benefit, Universal Credit. This led to MPs claiming that the NAO's statement...
A new report has warned that some young people are at risk of "destitution" because benefit levels are so low.
The report was produced by the Social Security Advisory Committee. It looks at the impact of the benefit system on young people aged 16 to 24 who live independently of parents or other guardians.
350,000 young people
The...
On Tuesday 15 May, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) released its figures for benefits sanctions up to January 2018. But buried in the statistics is the figure for the outcomes of people who appeal a Universal Credit sanction decision. The figures show that tribunals rule that 83% of sanction decisions they assess are...
Theresa May has announced that she is going to "transform" attitudes towards mental health. She claims she is going to invest in children's services, schools and workplaces. And she believes that mental health is "dangerously disregarded".
May is right. There is a huge need to take mental health seriously and invest in services. But...
Ken Loach gave a searing interview on BBC Newsnight on Wednesday 4 January. He left presenter Evan Davis holding a truth bomb and the Newsnight Twitter account misrepresenting the interview. And Loach hit the nail on the head, regarding the subject matter of his film I, Daniel Blake. The government's cruel benefit sanctions regime has...
An internal United Nations report which the public wasn't supposed to see has just hit the web. And its findings contain some explosive and uncomfortable truths.
Western sanctions on Syria, the report says, are harming ordinary civilians the most - preventing hospitals from accessing basic medical equipment and even hindering...
Despite astronomical and spiralling costs of £15.8 billion, Iain Duncan Smith is pressing ahead with rolling out his flagship scheme of Universal Credit, designed to "make work pay". Universal Credit is designed to be an all inclusive benefit, combining jobseeker's allowance, income support, housing benefit, child benefit, working tax,...
An unprecedented campaign has been launched today calling for an increase in funding for mental health services in England, and for processes to be put in place so that mental illness is treated just as seriously as physical illness.
The campaign website, Equality for Mental Health, features an open letter detailing 10 key...
