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 with Jolyon Jones: the cuts from the barricade website runningwithscissors-brum. A Birmingham social worker and activist speaks about the cuts in children’s services.
• Music therapy helps children who have witnessed domestic violence Guardian. Professional, social care network. A call for innovation and a sharing of knowledge and experience amongst social care providers; Ashram Housing Association and music therapy.
• Benefit cap hits child households hardest. Children & Young People Now, website for those working in children’s services.
• Parents should pool resources to combat cuts in respite care. Guardian. New schemes approach ways of offering breaks for disabled children and carers as the need grows to make links with similar families.
• Coalition’s £1bn youth deal failing to create permanent jobs, Labour claims. Guardian, Society, Youth unemployment.
• The crisis in living standards and how to solve it. Economist Duncan Weldon, the touchstone blog. As we are seeing the longest squeeze on living standards since the 1870’s, policy needs to focus upon wages, not on inflation.
• Parents forced into debt to pay for school uniforms. Independent.