Welfare

Working families moving onto Universal Credit could become ‘second class savers’, with any money put aside potentially counting against their benefit entitlement, according to a new report published today by the independent think-tank the Resolution Foundation. Making it work – the final repor

Alex Neil Social justice secretary Alex Neil has called for an inter-governmental meeting to discuss the implications of a planned £12 billion welfare cut on powers contained in the new Scotland Bill.

Calls for new welfare at Holyrood to be used to redress some the “devastating” impacts of benefit sanctions on women will be heard by MSPs today. The Scottish Parliament’s welfare reform committee will be given a series of expert submissions which further evidence the impact of san

The Highland Council is the first local authority in the UK to trial a new Universal Credit application process that enables landlords to electronically submit an Alternative Payment Arrangement to support vulnerable tenants. The council is working with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to

Shelter Scotland has published a paper which sets out the principles it believes should underpin further devolution of social security - including housing benefit – to the Scottish Parliament, and what steps the Scottish Government and UK governments should take in relation to the devolution of so

The UK government’s spending watchdog has criticised the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) for its failure to anticipate problems in its implementation of welfare reform. The National Audit Office has called for the DWP to use the hard lessons it learned from implementing its recent program

Alex Neil Many people accessing benefits are living in constant fear that further cuts will push them into "crisis situations", a new study has found.

The High Court has ordered that a judicial review challenge to the benefit cap and its impact upon disabled people and their carers should proceed to a full hearing, and that this hearing must take place urgently. The secretary of state for work and pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, unsuccessfully argued

By Adam van Lohuizen, senior economic analyst at Shelter The impact of the cuts already made by the coalition government has been severe. And the government has pledged to make a further £12 billion reduction in welfare spending by 2017-18. But the task of making these cuts has got a whole lot hard

Local authorities in Scotland made just over 118,000 awards under the Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) scheme during 2014/15, with a total value of over £50 million granted through to 31st March 2015, new statistics have revealed. The figure was £3m more than the £47.2m initially allocated b

Further cuts to welfare funding by the UK government result in a surge in rent arrears, tenant evictions and homelessness, a new report has warned. A survey of 75 local authorities and housing associations in England, conducted by Grant Thornton UK LLP, predicted that the continuing impact of the �

Nicola Sturgeon and Grahame Smith sign the Memorandum of Understanding First minister Nicola Sturgeon has shared “serious concerns” with the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) over the impact on the people of Scotland of the UK government's commitment to continued austerity.

David Bookbinder David Bookbinder on the tricky issue of welfare in Scotland and the UK following last week’s general election result.

The national roll out of Universal Credit continued yesterday with the benefit now available to new single claimants in Kirkwall, Lerwick and Stornoway. Universal Credit, the new benefit that will replace Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment Support Allowance, Income Support, Tax Credits and Housing

Iain Duncan Smith Iain Duncan Smith is to remain in charge of welfare reform across the UK after prime minister David Cameron decided to retain him as work and pensions secretary in his new Conservative government.