Welfare
Pre-paid card firms supplying councils acted ‘as a cartel,’ regulator says
Three out of five firms that issue councils with pre-paid cards have admitted breaching competition rules and agreed to pay penalties totalling more than £32m.
Winning on social housing in Hull
The combination of austerity and welfare reform led Hull City Council to rethink its support for its social housing tenants. The end result has been an award winning service. The MJ reports.
Helping families through the tough times
Local welfare assistance schemes are crucial to delivering the Government’s package of winter support to families with children during the pandemic, says Toby North. Some councils, who previously did not have one in place, have set them up, he adds.
Councils to feed children during half-term
Local authorities have been told to fund free meals to schoolchildren during half-term week next month, prompting an outcry from the sector.
Counties will continue to deliver
Director of the County Councils Network Simon Edwards says the next few months will be 'no easier for our communities, but local government has already proven the importance of locally led, rather than centrally imposed, solutions'.
'Wide-ranging' government care review 'very imminent'
Children’s minister Vicky Ford has promised that the long-awaited review into the care system is ‘very imminent’ and will be ‘wide ranging’.
A radical case for change to employment support
Let local areas – not the Department for Work and Pensions – provide better support for people facing barriers to work, argues Pawda Tjoa
£63m hardship fund was not meant to pay for free school meals
The £63m ‘hardship fund’ ministers claim should be enough for councils to help hungry schoolkids was not designed to pay for free school meals.
Joint call for increased funding to help rough sleepers
A host of health and homelessness organisations have implored the Government to take ‘bold action’ and help councils bring rough sleepers off the streets this winter.
Why councils should support the expansion of Fair for You
As part of their plans to reshape financial support for residents, councils should enter into formal partnerships with Fair for You, says Damon Gibbons.
Staring into the jobs abyss
With the furlough scheme due to finish at the end of next month, can local government support COVID-hit local economies and residents left without work? Ann McGauran talks to sector experts.
ADCS president calls for welfare overhaul
The impact of the pandemic on children’s futures must not be underestimated, the president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) has said.
District warning after £63m handed to counties
Help for families struggling to put food on the table will be delayed due to ‘needless extra red tape in distributing funding,’ district councils have warned after ministers handed counties control of a £63m fund to support the most vulnerable families.
Johnson to launch £63m local welfare assistance fund
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the creation of a £63m local welfare assistance fund to support the most vulnerable families.
Call for £275m welfare assistance boost
A children’s charity has appealed for a reversal of cuts to funds for families facing financial hardship to avert a crisis following the coronavirus pandemic.
The exit strategy is crucial
How to withdraw from the special and unprecedented COVID-19 emergency measures is a really complex task for policy makers – but it matters to the rest of us too, including councils, says Dan Corry.
Lift the benefits cap, says IFS
The benefit cap should be lifted to ensure 36,000 working age families can access the temporary increase in welfare announced as part of the government coronavirus aid package says the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Universal credit 'is key to hardship', says think tank
Universal credit is the ‘key to many families avoiding real hardship’, the Resolution Foundation think tank has claimed.
Universal credit pushed back again
The Department for Work and Pensions has again shifted the date for full implementation of Universal Credit.
Hull bids to pilot Universal Basic Income
Councillors voted to establish a steering group and seek support from the Government.
