Universal Credit
Our poor children
Child poverty in the UK impacts not only on the children who are put into care. Its ripple effect piles pressure on local authorities, particularly those in the West Midlands and the North. Paul Marinko reports.
Figures expose shameful causes of children's care costs
The impact of poverty on council children’s services saw calls for action this week from MPs and councillors, as ministers moved to softened welfare reforms.
Welfare provision ‘overly centralised’ London council chiefs say
A new report from the cross-party organisation London Councils has criticised the current approach to welfare provision, describing it as ‘overly centralised’.
Universal Credit rollout 'should be halted', says Tower Hamlets' Mayor
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets LBC John Biggs says the roll-out of Universal Credit ‘should be halted’ following its discovery of more than 700 underpayments and overpayments in just 18 months.
Labour pledges to scrap Universal Credit
Labour has promised to replace ‘inhumane’ Universal Credit with a new social security system.
Beware the ‘pandemonium’ of UC
It’s all change – again – at the top of the Department for Work and Pensions. But where does the departure of Amber Rudd leave the beleaguered Universal Credit policy? Ann McGauran reports
Data the key to supporting through UC
As Universal Credit replaces Housing Benefit, local authorities will lose access to the rich data that allows them to target support, warns Deven Ghelani.
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).