welfare

February 28, 2014

Welfare reform critics welcome Commons debate and motion

Disabled and sick campaigners have welcomed the outcome of a parliamentary debate on the harmful impact on welfare changes.
February 27, 2014

Time to end ‘war on welfare’, says Christian think-tank

Politicians on all sides must act to stop disabled, sick and vulnerable people being scapegoated and sidelined in debates about welfare and benefits, says Christian think-tank Ekklesia.
February 27, 2014

Disabled people challenge damage of current welfare reform policies

The House of Commons will today (27 February 2014) debate the impact of current UK welfare reform on sick and disabled people and carers.
February 27, 2014

Breakfast Lobby ahead of Westminster welfare petition debate

On the morning of the Thursday 27 February at 9.30am WOWpetition (the initiative of disabled and sick people calling for a cumulative impact assessment of welfare reform on the most vulnerable) will be holding a breakfast lobby in the Jubilee Room of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster – ahead of a debate in the Commons Chamber due for 11.30am.
February 19, 2014

Cameron factually wrong and misleading on poverty, say churches

Four major Churches have criticised the PM for not understanding his Government’s own figures nor the reality of destitution.
January 27, 2014

More still to do among church members to counter myths of welfare

When Iain Duncan Smith made his notorious speech in which he compared his welfare reforms to the abolition of slavery, he was assumed to be referring to the TV programme ‘Benefits Street’ when he spoke of ‘ghettos’ as evidence of all that is wrong with the welfare state.
January 26, 2014

Being our brothers' keepers: Benefits Street and Middle England

Much has been written about how determined the government is to set the working poor against the workless poor. But less attention has been paid to the skill with which Conservative politicians are pushing the buttons of Middle England.
January 21, 2014

NCVO research project on welfare changes

Anjelica Finnegan started work at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) this week and will be leading a new Joseph Rowntree Fund-financed research project to find out about the experiences of voluntary organisations dealing with the government's welfare changes in the Welfare Reform Act.
January 8, 2014

DWP accused of driving more poor people into hardship

The DWP will take no account of the hardship caused by imposing sanctions on claimants and their families, an FOI request indicates.
January 7, 2014

'Benefits Street': a misleading, harmful caricature from Channel 4

Prior to Channel Four’s ‘Benefits Street’ being aired last night (6 January 2014), the tabloid press had primed its readers, with plenty of articles such as this one from the Daily Express, laden with Iain Duncan Smith-style rhetoric: ‘broken Britain, scroungers, workshy, burden on society’, etcetera.