Universal Credit
What's the demand for children's social care?
In the North-East there has been a 55.7% growth in the average number of looked after children per 10,000 between 2009 and 2018. Tony Kirkham says the biggest single driver of demand would seem to be Universal Credit.
Repairing children’s services is an investment worth making
Spending more on services to stop the rising costs of taking children into care must be worth the investment, says Heather Jameson.
Conservative Street in housing benefits freeze call
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has called on his own party to reduce homelessness by reversing the housing benefits freeze.
Universal Credit draining council resources
Universal Credit (UC) is draining resources from councils, a new survey has found.
Combined strategy call to tackle homelessness
The Government should commit to a coherent combined housing and homelessness strategy, a report published today by a commission of experts has urged after a year-long investigation.
'We've broken the social contract with people'
Former Society of Local Authority Chief Executives president Jo Miller is leaving her chief executive role at Doncaster MBC to take up a new local government post in New Zealand. She talks to Heather Jameson about her legacy.
Calls to increase funding to halt rise in homelessness
Calls have been made for increased funding for measures to prevent people becoming homeless as figures show mounting pressure on councils.
From jurassic to digital – the evolution of services
As the new Dorset unitaries get underway, the sea-change in structure is matched by the new wave of digital technology. Against this backdrop, a group of top council chiefs met at a BT/The MJ round table to look to the future.
Councils treated as 'spectators' in Universal Credit rollout
A council that has uncovered hundreds of thousands of pounds of Universal Credit (UC) over and underpayments has claimed local authorities are ‘spectators’ in rolling out the scheme.
Government homelessness funding 'not enough'
Two out of three councils do not think £73m Government funding to help them fulfil their statutory duty to prevent homelessness is enough, a survey has found.
Building residents’ resilience
Mark Fowler of Barking & Dagenham LBC and Sue Nelson of Luton BC outline how they are using insights from household data to build residents’ resilience.
Access all areas: the digital inclusion challenge
How can broadband access be spread to cover all areas, especially deprived sectors for whom access may be too expensive? This was one of the key questions posed to a round table hosted recently by The MJ and 6G Internet at The MJ Future Forum North.
MHCLG churn 'damaging institutional memory'
Whitehall is suffering from ‘collective amnesia’ due to high staff turnover that is wasting millions of pounds, according to a study today from the respected think-tank the Institute for Government (IfG).
Whitehall is suffering from amnesia
We have a fatal combination of both ministers and civil servants with no collective memory - and this has been bad news for local government, says Michael Burton
3m still scheduled for Universal Credit, despite delays
Amber Rudd has confirmed 3m people are still scheduled to claim universal credit by 2020, despite announcing a delay in the approval of a full UC rollout.
Rudd delays Universal Credit rollout
Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd has delayed the next phase of the Universal Credit (UC) rollout amid ongoing concerns over the controversial system.
Listen to local government to avoid Universal Credit disaster
If 'managed migration' - moving more than four million claimants of legacy benefits on to Universal Credit from summer 2019 - is to succeed, local authorities must have a leading role in supporting applicants, says Cllr Muhammed Butt.
Universal Credit bad for people's health - academics
Universal Credit (UC) is bad for health and wellbeing, academics have found in a new study commissioned by Gateshead MBC.
Ending the cycle of homelessness
Chief executive of Craven DC, Paul Shevlin, says councils need more funding and affordable housing to end the cycle of homelessness.
Budget 2018: Billion-pound Universal Credit pledge
Chancellor Philip Hammond today pledged £1bn in an attempt to ease benefits claimants’ transition to Universal Credit (UC).