December 2014; Experts warn Scottish benefit claimants could end up worse off once Holyrood is handed welfare powers The Scottish Parliament is expected to gain control over carer’s allowance, industrial injuries benefit and severe disablement allowance under the powers negotiated in the Smith Commission on Scottish devolution. This will allow MSPs to raise or cut […]
The New Flat Rate Pension Benefits Scheme Starts In April 2016 The new flat rate state pension is a marked reduction over that which has been in place for many years. It is arrived at by combining the existing basic state pension and the State earnings related pension, (SERPS). The new pension will be a […]
Austerity Measures-Child Benefit to be Frozen by a Labour Government Under austerity measures introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government, child benefit has been frozen from 2010 to this year. Tory Chancellor George Osborne has already said it should increase by 1 per cent in 2015-16. But Mr Balls said the restraint should continue for […]
Robbing the Blind – This is the Great New World of the Union Better Together Have Signed Scotland Up to? A woman blind since birth was asked by a benefits assessor, “how many fingers am I holding up?” It was just one of a series of humiliating questions fired at Natasha Pogson 28y to check […]
Child Poverty in the UK 1. The Government has a statutory requirement, enshrined in the Child Poverty Act 2010 , to end child poverty by 2020. However, it is predicted that by 2020/21 ANOTHER 1 MILLION CHILDREN will be pushed into poverty as a result of the Coalition Government’s policies’. (Barnardo’s ). 2. In the […]
Work or Want – The Impact of Welfare Changes A recent court case in Dundee highlighted the brutality of Ian Duncan Smith’s changes to Social Security systems, in place to protect those in need of assistance. A young mother fled her abusive husband. She asked for assistance at her local social services office only to […]
Unfair Share of the Wealth Within the UK Wealth is also unevenly spread across the UK. An average household in the South East has almost twice (182.63%) the amount of wealth of an average household in Scotland. http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/about-inequality/scale-and-trends
The Universal Credit debacle- Robert Devereux- United Kingdom Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions Robert Devereux is the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions. A government organisation with 100,000 staff, operating from nearly 1000 sites, with some 22 million customers, and an annual budget – in terms of money […]
Scottish Health & Welfare Staff in Lanarkshire to be Trained to Spot Health Impacts of Benefits Changes Both North and South Lanarkshire councils are taking the lead in dealing with the changes. Janice Scouller, health improvement lead for the North West Unit, who is overseeing the welfare reform work in NHS Lanarkshire, said: “The welfare […]
Francis Maude-Cabinet Office Minister Tells Elderly to Go on-Line or Lose Your Benefits 1. The elderly will soon have to have to go on online or risk losing access to key government services. 2. Refuseniks, who do not want to use computers will be able to apply for a one-off lesson to help them get […]
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