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Archive for September, 2009

The nanny state vs benefit fraud - which side are you on?

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Over the weekend the papers highlighted the case of two police officers told that taking care of each other’s children for a few hours a day was illegal - they should have paid to be vetted and registered as childminders. The law was intended to protect children, but its zealous enforcement has been widely mocked: [...]

International Peace Day: a great example of a Chain Reaction

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Ten years ago, film director Jeremy Gilley had the idea for an international day of peace - one day each year of global ceasefire and non-violence. Today, it’s officially recognised by the UN, is being marked in all 192 countries worldwide, and has bought two feuding sportsware companies back together in (PR-driven) harmony.
It’s one of [...]

Dynamic Benefits report missed a paragraph on the informal economy

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

I think there was a paragraph missing from the Centre for Social Justice’s Dynamic benefits report yesterday. I’ve copied it below, just incase.
Furthermore, the barriers that stop people getting jobs, coupled with low benefits rates, often force them into informal, or cash-in-hand work. The informal economy is worth £120bn each year in the UK, 12% [...]

How a roadside chat uncovered a £300,000 scam

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Community Links’ Aaron Barbour is never short of good ideas and his suggestion that I look into informal working on construction sites connected with the Olympics set me off on a really interesting investigation.
Aaron had suggested I look into whether informal working was going on within the massive 2012 construction effort.
First stop was the Olympic [...]

Community Allowance Pilot Partners Wanted

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

We (the CREATE Consortium) are looking for three community organisations to pilot the Community Allowance with us. Could you be involved?

Background - the Community Allowance proposal
A Community Allowance would allow benefit claimants to supplement their income without incurring a penalty - this month’s New Start magazine has a useful overview of the idea, which is starting to [...]

Theresa May MP: What is Conservative thinking on Welfare Reform…?

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Last week I went to listen to Theresa May MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) speaking about welfare reform at an event organised by Policy Exchange. In our previous blog we referred to the latest research by Policy Exchange revealing that unemployment was closer to six million than the current official figure of [...]