Types of student loans If you took out a student loan while taking a university or college course that began before September 1998, you will have been given a loan known as a ‘mortgage style’ or ‘fixed-term’ loan. (Loans taken … Continue reading →
The Guardian’s Randeep Ramesh reports today on the use of bed and breakfasts to house families beyond the legal time limit of six weeks. The national picture is that half of the 242 authorities who responded had placed homeless families in private … Continue reading →
These are the welfare-related links we’ve been looking at between December 21st and January 25th: Management in Practice – GPs could help save £190m in sick pay – Launching in 2014, the advisory service will allow GPs to identify employees … Continue reading →
We’re looking for a new editor to help run Help Me Investigate Welfare, following the departure of Chie Elliott, who now has a job in publishing. Help Me Investigate will provide the network of support and contacts to help. If you’re … Continue reading →
These are the welfare-related links we’ve been looking at between September 6th and October 27th: Police raid activist’s home for ‘criminal’ posts on Facebook. China? No – Wales | Pride’s Purge – If the police wanted to talk to her, … Continue reading →
These are the welfare-related links we’ve been looking at between June 20th and August 20th: DCLG: Evidence review of the costs of homelessness – This paper is intended to provide an initial overview of evidence held by government and other organisations, including that already published, of the magnitude of financial costs to government from homelessness. […]
An annotation on an FOI request relating to the work programme is worth repeating in full – and quoting – for anyone else considering requesting information: The DWP Head of Work Programmes Division[1] wrote a memo to Minister for Employment on 24 April 2012 which stated: There are no “cost limits”[2] for Freedom of Information […]
“Disingenuous” is a word I find I only use and use a lot when talking about the DWP. The thought about audio-recording a WCA cropped up over a year ago and immediately gained the support of the illustrious Professor Harrington. More recently, there has been a lot of upset due to confusion over how will […]
Here’s a good example of following the money to see exactly where the priorities lie on two kinds of ‘benefit fraud’: fraud by benefit claimants, and fraud by the companies who get the contracts to run welfare services. Rajeev Syal reports that the government has cut those people responsible for investigating fraud by private contractors […]
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is the test through which the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) determines entitlement to Employment & Support Allowance (ESA). It was introduced in 2008 and has been the source of considerable controversy since. DWP outsourced the expertise it thought it needed to perform WCAs from a private company, Atos […]