Welfare

Iain Duncan Smith The ‘bedroom tax’ is forcing people to cut back on food and essential items while burdening them with large personal debts, an official government study has revealed.

Hugh Henry Paying the housing element of Universal Credit direct to landlords and the immediate abolition of the ‘bedroom tax’ are needed if Scotland is to create a welfare system which treats claimants with dignity and respect, MSPs have said.

Jon Sparkes At Crisis we know it is possible for homeless people to find and sustain meaningful employment, and in doing so to rebuild their lives. But new research we have published finds that the conditionality and sanctions regime instead makes it much harder for homeless people to find work.

Jon Sparkes Crisis is calling for reform of how benefit sanctions work for the most vulnerable as new research by the charity reveals how the regime is leaving people homeless, hungry and destitute and making it even harder for them to find work.

Susan McPhee Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has urged Holyrood to use new powers to create a fairer welfare system after a poll revealed over a third of benefit claimants are ‘unable to get by’ on the income they receive.

Experts have called on the UK government to review its ‘bedroom tax’ policy after a new study revealed the reform is having a serious impact on children’s ability to learn. In the first piece of research to examine the impact of the welfare policy on children and their education, academics fou

Working households on Universal Credit are set to lose an average of £1,000 in 2020, rising to £1,300 for those with children, despite the welcome reversal of the main cuts to tax credits announced in the Spending Review. New analysis by the independent think-tank the Resolution Foundation has not

Glasgow is on course to have more than £8 million spent on payments to mitigate the ‘bedroom tax’ this year, according to official statistics. Latest figures from the Scottish Government show almost 20,000 households in the city have so far been allocated Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) m

Rev Sally Foster-Fulton The Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church have warned that the UK government’s Welfare Reform and Work Bill will fail to get people into work and will instead increase poverty.

David Mundell New welfare legislation will bring about big changes for Scotland that can make a difference to the lives of people in Scotland, Scottish secretary David Mundell said yesterday.

The United Nations is to review the UK government’s £12bn welfare cuts to see if they “disproportionately affect” the rights of the disadvantaged and vulnerable people. The review, which will also look into the UK’s equal rights policies, is part of a regular cycle of examinations and will

John Swinney MSP Deputy first minister John Swinney has conceded that the Scottish Government may not be in a position to afford to reverse all of the welfare cuts being imposed by Chancellor George Osborne.

David Mundell The Scottish Government will be able to "top up" tax credits and child benefit payments as part of new powers coming to Holyrood, Scottish Secretary David Mundell has confirmed.

David Mundell The Scottish Government will have the power to reverse cuts to working tax credits in Scotland as early as 2017, according to a senior Whitehall source.

Kirsty McKechnie In a guest blog for Shelter Scotland, Kirsty McKechnie, welfare rights worker for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, gives the story so far for Universal Credit.