These proposed powers will apply not only to benefit claimants, but to others who are “linked” to them: the term remains vaguely defined.
The Chancellor explains the thinking behind proposed changes in Universal Credit which would restrict access to people who refuse to actively seek work.
There is also a moral point: if someone works, they should be the main beneficiary of their labour, rather than being forced to give most of their extra earnings to the Government.
The ninth part of our series on reducing demand for government, in which we set out a programme for change – focused on families, civil society and government.
The fourth part of our series on reducing demand for government, in which we set out a programme for change – focused on families, civil society and government.
The campaign simply asks for fair compensation for the Department for Work and Pensions’ failure to inform them of this massive change to their state pension arrangements.
Our deputy editor and Susie Boniface of the Daily Mirror also discuss planned benefit cuts and reviving Oxford Street on Sky News’ press preview.
If Britain’s productivity problem could be fixed by politicians tilting at unpopular targets – in this case, an assumed army of scroungers – it would have been fixed long ago.
Immigrants, too, get old. Assuming standards of medical care remain, or improve as the science advances, enormous movements of migrants would be constantly required just in order to pay the bills of earlier waves.
There are many things that can be done to resist the tide. The first would be for ministers to make the philosophical case for where state responsibility ends, and personal responsibility starts.
The measure is just the tip of the British state’s anti-family iceberg. But as with so many of our other problems, it commands strong (if short-sighted) public support.
The thirteenth article in a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
The seventh article in a new series on ConHome about how government might be made smaller, taxpayers better off and and society stronger – through strong families, better schools and good jobs.
And this is the fundamental problem: it allows us to dodge a broader long-term industrial strategy, precisely because the short-term labour fix is so easy.
The expansion of Universal Support is hugely welcome, as is news of a Chance to Work Guarantee. The Chancellor’s decision to restrict access to higher rate disability benefits, however, is harder to defend.