benefits

The invisible unemployed: “half of unemployed do not claim benefits” – so who are they?

Originally posted at NatalieLeal.Blogspot.co.uk This chart from a report by Inclusion tells a story. Actually, it poses a lot of questions. At the last count just under half of all unemployed people in the UK were not claiming benefits. That’s almost one million people and it’s going up all the time. But where are these people? How are […]

Single parents in the centre of the benefits storm – get Gingerbread’s data

With rising prices on one side and falling benefits on the other, have single parents been disproportionately hit by welfare reforms? Gingerbread, the charity supporting lone parents, believes so. Their online survey ‘Paying the price:single parents in the age of austerity (pdf)’ asked a number of questions about meeting rising living costs, with 591 single […]

Housing and #welfarereform – a Twitter discussion

[View the story “Housing and #welfarereform – a Twitter discussion” on Storify]

Useful links to Sept 27: Hurt from the cuts; Loan policy supports unwise lending

Benefit sanctions hitting homeless people hardest. Homeless Link has commissioned a report called A High Cost to Pay (pdf) that highlights the difficulties of the most vulnerable people in attending benefit dependant interviews. There is a call for Jobcentre Plus advisors to better understand the predicament of homeless people. Homeless Link found that the sanctions […]

Useful links to Sept 16th: reassess mental illness; axe bedroom tax; the new poor; CPAG update

These are some welfare links we found interesting during the second week of September. What were Ian Duncan Smith’s ‘welfare reforms’ really about?. Guardian, Sue Marsh, spokeswoman and author of Diary of a Benefit Scrounger says the reforms are frightening the most vulnerable. Hard evidence: are migrants draining the welfare system?. The Conversation. The evidence […]

Useful posts to Sept 6: welfare reforms mauled;whose upturn? dreading UC

These are some welfare links we found interesting during the first week of September. Britain 2013: children of poor families are still left behind.Guardian, Society, Poverty. Has Britain moved on since the Born to Fail? report of the early 70′s, … Continue reading

Useful links to August 30th: living costs crisis; intern death; DWP zero hours; modern workers

These are some welfare links we found interesting during the second two weeks of August. Food bank Britain: life below the line: Guardian. The Trussell Trust opens three new food banks a week, finding not only those facing benefit cuts … Continue reading

Useful links from August 1st to 15th: child households; pooling resources; youth deal.

These are some welfare links we found interesting during the first two weeks of August. YoungMinds comment on Prince’s Trust ‘Abandoned Ambitions’ report. Charity YoungMinds. “These figures highlight just some of the everyday pressures young people face”.  Abandoned Ambitions (pdf) Interview … Continue reading

Guide to deferring a mortgage-style student loan repayment

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