linksUK

Archive for August, 2008

King predicts doom and gloom as unemployment levels rise

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Recession is on the cards according to economists studying the latest figures on the economy. Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England predicted that next year would be a “difficult one”  for the UK with unemployment rising at its fastest rate for 16 years. Not good news for Government reaching  80% Employment and Child [...]

Benefit Claimants Sounding Board

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) and Jobcentre Plus (JC+) should establish a permanent ‘Benefit Claimants Sounding Board’ or ‘Claimants Advisory Panel’ which would work directly with head office DWP / JC+ officials and Ministers to develop new strategies, policies, programmes and initiatives.
DWP / JC+ would have the opportunity, by working directly with their [...]

Putting Purnell in the Picture: welfare reform

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

photo credit: splityarn
Evidence that conditions and sanctions work to get people off benefits has lead to a review headed by Professor Paul Gregg of Bristol University to further this practice in tackling the

“Escalating conditions for the long term unemployed or those thought to be abusing the system.

James Purnell who introduced the Green Paper on Welfare Reform [...]

Tackling child poverty in Newham

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

The London Borough of Newham Overview & Scrutiny Commission on tackling child poverty recently launched their final report. We at linksUK were commissioned to provide further evidence by interviewing local families living in poverty. 
We presented the findings as case studies. The image here is from a poignant diary entry of one young person, aged nine, imagining what her birthday cake might look [...]