Informal Economy
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 [...]
Understanding your local area, hidden warts and all
Monday, December 7th, 2009A couple of weeks ago the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill was given royal assent, so becoming law. It does two things: firstly it aims to create more opportunities for local people to get involved in decision making; and secondly it gives local authorities a greater role in economic development, including requiring them [...]
£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 [...]
Londoners unite to tackle poverty
Monday, November 23rd, 2009Next Tuesday 1st December a coalition of anti poverty charities and organisations from around London, including Community Links, will meet to share successes and look ahead to next year. Stephen Timms MP for East Ham will open the event, but after that we’ll be hearing almost exclusively from activists and charities working locally around London, [...]
Fraud and error in the benefits system – where DWP are going wrong.
Monday, November 16th, 2009Last week the Department for Work and Pensions released their annual figures (PDF) on fraud and error in the benefits system. It seems a good time to make exactly the same points we made last time this happened.
Firstly lumping together fraud and error is misleading and means everyone (including Teresa May, in the Telegraph article [...]
We spent a week debating the way poverty is portrayed in the media, generating over 20 fascinating posts from a wide range of authors. 