Benefits
Welfare Commission: humanising decision making and appeals in the benefits system
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Today the Department for Work and Pensions Select Committee publishes its report on decision making and appeals in the benefits system, the headline press coverage reports that overpayments due to error had soared from £400 million in 2000, while overpayments due to fraud and mistakes by claimants dropped. As part of the solution the select [...]
£16bn of benefits go unclaimed every year
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010Community links is one of the 27 charities challenging government today over the £16bn in benefits that go unclaimed every year. The campaign, coordinated by Citizens Advice, wants government to set targets to improve the take-up of means-tested benefits, ensuring that money earmarked for some of the most vulnerable people actually reaches them.
It’s an issue [...]
Melanie Phillips is almost convinced
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010The second half of Melanie Phillips’ journey to meet Britain’s ‘Feckless Poor‘, broadcast yesterday on Radio 4, was fascinating for the way her opinion seemed to shift, often unknowingly, as it progressed.
She met a series of people working long hours for very low pay in often-exploitative conditions: a man who leaves the house at 4.00am [...]
Community Links advises government on hidden economy
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010The formation of a Hidden Economy Advisory Group was announced in last month’s pre-budget report, and now HMRC have released some more details.
Community Links accepted an invitation to be part of the group; we have lobbied for its creation for many years.
As a community organisation based in east London, we have provided support and [...]
What happened when Melanie Phillips met real people on benefits
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010Last night was the first of Melanie Phillips’ two programmes on the ‘British work ethic’ on Radio 4, (listen on iplayer for the next week), which she also described in her column. I was particularly interested because we declined an invitation to help in the making of the programme, but also for her reactions to [...]
A Year of Social Change
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009As we reach the end of 2009 the national team at Community Links have been reflecting on the last year … and begining to plan for 2010.
In 2009 Community Links has seen more and more people come through our doors, as people struggle and demand for our services increased. In Newham Community Links carried on [...]
The Better Off in Work credit and the Hidden Economy Advisory Group
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009Edit: We only just noticed, hidden away at the bottom of this page, the introduction of the ‘Hidden Economy Advisory Group’ in today’s Pre-budget report. This is fantastic news, it’s great that government is recognising the importance of those working informally, and looking at positive steps to include them in the formal economy. A major [...]
£5 earnings cap traps people on benefits
Friday, December 4th, 2009Today saw the launch of our Need Not Greed campaign’s demand for the earnings limit on Jobseekers Allowance to go up from £5 to £50. It was discussed on the Today Programme (mp3), and Nicola Smith of the TUC gave a great interview on BBC Radio 5 Breakfast (mp3).
People on JSA face a £5 cap [...]
Personalised service and Knight’s digital vision
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Personalised service = zero human interaction. An online welfare system; modern, instant and resistant to human frustration or despair: the computer says no. I just read today’s announcements by Jim Knight MP, the employment minister about improving the Jobcentre’s service. If you have a lack of computer skills you will get a technologies budget to [...]
Just the beginning for welfare reform
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009Despite the Welfare Reform Bill passing into a law a couple of weeks ago, there seems fairly universal acceptance that there’s still a lot of welfare reforming to be done (including, some would argue, undoing the damage done by the most recent set of reforms).
The questions left are around the direction of future reform, its [...]
We spent a week debating the way poverty is portrayed in the media, generating over 20 fascinating posts from a wide range of authors. 