Archive: Welfare And Pensions

Govt highlights fit-to-work benefit scroungers

Three-quarters were found to be fit to work or dropped their claim before their medical

Nearly four out of ten people applying for a key sickness benefit were found fit to work, official figures show.

Incapacity benefit to be reformed

Benefit applications still too confusing

Tories pledge benefit clampdown

Govt 'cutting funding to most vulnerable'

The organisations say abolishing community care grants will hit the most vulnerable.

Cuts to the social fund risk removing the safety net for the most vulnerable, leading charities have warned.

Grayling: We'll force half a million back into work

Taking the test: 1.6 million claimants will be assessed over the next three years

Chris Grayling has promised to force half a million people off incapacity benefit and into work ahead of a massive upheaval in the welfare system.

IDS: Poor people 'worse off' with more money

Iain Duncan Smith said Labour had been 'fixated' on income.

Poor people's lives do not improve with state handouts, Iain Duncan Smith has claimed.

No 'excessive' profits in back-to-work programme

Chris Grayling told a Commons committee that providers will only make a profit if they get people into work.

Providers that get people back into work will not be able to make "excessive" profits, the employment minister has said.

Hutton tries to kill off final salary pensions

Pensions look set to be linked to average earnings, if the recommendations are taken up by the government.

Lord Hutton has recommended the scrapping of final salary pensions, in a widely-expected move likely to trigger anger among public sector workers.

IDS moves to streamline pensions

Iain Duncan Smith will outline sweeping changes to state pensions later today.

The coalition will "fundamentally simplify" the pensions system, Iain Duncan Smith will say today.

Major housing benefit climbdown as welfare reform unveiled

The universal credit is the brainchild of Iain Duncan Smith

The government has backtracked on plans to cut housing benefit.

Scrapping child trust fund a 'backward step'

The payments will stop altogether on New Year's Day

The abolition of the child trust fund will deprive tens of thousands of children of a "vital nest egg", a thinktank has argued.

Labour attempts to turn Lib Dem MP on housing benefit vote

The housing benefit changes are set to affect London particularly

A key committee vote to determine support for the government's controversial plans on housing benefit takes place today.

Local govt pension deficit 'up to £100bn'

The research has been questioned by CIPFA

Pension schemes covering four million people may have seen a huge rise in the shortfall, according to research.

Cameron under pressure over new peer's 'breeding' comments

Turbulent peers: The comments create a huge headache for the PM

Opposition parties have questioned the PM's judgement.

IDS: No exceptions for benefits sanctions

Benefits sanctions won't spare parents, IDS says

Parents will not be spared the requirement to work to continue to receive parents, Iain Duncan Smith has insisted.

Think tank: 'Scrap minimum wage to fix welfare'

IDS' reforms may be hailed by the government as radical, but they don't go nearly far enough for the IEA

The minimum wage should be abolished or drastically reduced if Iain Duncan Smith is to finish his welfare reform agenda, a think tank has argued.

IDS pledges 'no losers' from welfare reform

DWP will spend £2bn on transition to new system

Reforms to the welfare system announced today will not result in any deserving claimants becoming worse off, Iain Duncan Smith has pledged.

Welfare scheme to force claimants into unpaid work

Back to work: Claimants may be forced to do one month of unpaid work

The long-term unemployed face having to do a month of unpaid work in order to keep receiving benefits, under new plans to be confirmed this week.

Comment: Challenging the false debate on housing benefit

Leslie Morphy is chief executive of the homeless charity Crisis

The current row over the housing benefit cap is obscuring the real impact cuts will have on low income people across the country.

Govt unclear over social rent 'lottery'

Questions still unanswered for social housing

Housing experts are struggling to pin the government down over its plans to hike social housing rents to 80% of market value.

Child benefit: Threat of 'penalties'

Higher-rate taxpayers face penalties if they fail to satisfy the Treasury

Higher-rate taxpayers could find themselves facing fines if their partner receives child benefit and doesn't inform the government.

Cable announces pensions shake-up

Vince Cable has implied radical plans for pension reform, in a bid to simplify the existing system.

Hughes draws a line in the sand

Tough choices: Hughes is not comfortable with plans on housing benefit

Simon Hughes has drawn a line in the sand on the row over the spending review, saying Lib Dems would vote against changes to housing benefit unless there are major changes.

On yer bus, IDS tells jobless

On your bus!: IDS' unfortunate anecdote raised the spectre of Norman Tebbit

Iain Duncan Smith has raised the spectre of Norman Tebbit's infamous "on yer bike" moment, by suggesting that people make greater efforts to travel to find work.

Spending review: Benefits hit as reform plans get funding

Benefits take a big hit, but reform gets green light

George Osborne has reserved £2 billion for work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith's welfare reforms - but slashed benefits.

No holds barred in benefits clampdown

The government is set to implement a clampdown on benefits cheats as it bids to cut Britain's welfare bill by a quarter.

Cold weather payments set to be cut

The emergency payments kick in for vulnerable people once an area has seven days of freezing temperatures

Cold weather payments, designed as an emergency aid to the elderly and impoverished to pay for heating during the winter months, look set to be cut back according to reports.

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