Welfare

Alex Neil The UK government’s attempt to make legislative changes to the definition of child poverty will not be replicated in Scotland as they would exclude working poor households, social justice secretary Alex Neil has told Westminster.

Welfare reform committee deputy convener Jamie Hepburn MSP (left) and convener Michael McMahon MSP Reforms to the benefits system are failing in their objective of encouraging the unemployed into work, according to new research.

Nicola Sturgeon First minister Nicola Sturgeon has laid out plans to introduce new bills to improve security for private tenants, introduce rent controls and abolish the ‘bedroom tax’ as early as possible.

The United Nations (UN) are to investigate the UK government’s welfare reforms following a complaint that there had “grave and systematic” violations of disabled people’s human rights, it has been reported. Disability charity Inclusion Scotland said that they have been contacted by the UN Co

Gentoo has announced it must make a number of “inevitable redundancies” as it looks to make up an estimated shortfall of £72 million. The Sunderland housing group, which formed a partnership with West of Scotland Housing Association in April 2013, said it needed to save £18m a year for the nex

Graeme Brown Shelter Scotland has cautioned against Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) being viewed as a long-term solution to Scotland’s housing crisis after new figures revealed a 37 per cent increase in the number of awards.

Councillor Sam Love Thousands of people struggling from the affects of welfare reform received over £29 million worth of help, thanks to North Lanarkshire Council's housing and social work team.

John Swinney MSP Finance ministers from all three Devolved Administrations have issued a joint warning that UK austerity plans “present unnecessary risks to our public services”.

Eilidh Whiteford Almost half of all sanctions imposed on the UK government’s Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) have been overturned when reviewed, according to official figures.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted using made-up stories from fictional claimants to demonstrate the positive impact of benefit sanctions. The revelation comes in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from Welfare Weekly, which questioned whether the comments used i

Alex Neil New powers to make changes over how Universal Credit is paid will eventually affect over 700,000 households across the country, according to the Scottish Government.

Darren Millar An influential assembly committee has called on the Welsh Government to look again at whether it should follow the Scottish model of ‘bedroom tax’ mitigation.

Paul Gray An independent advisory committee has called for an urgent and robust review of the UK government’s benefit sanctions regime amid concerns that it is failing to help jobless claimants.

Alex Neil Around 120,000 children will be cast adrift if the UK government changes its definition of child poverty, social justice secretary Alex Neil has claimed.

MPs have backed UK government plans for £12 billion in welfare cuts. The vote on the second reading of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which includes plans to limit child tax credit to two children, passed by 308 to 124 in the House of Commons last night.