Benefits

Ten years of austerity - the brutal reality of Tory rule

A decade of Tory rule has slashed key services, savaged spending and driven more people into poverty. And if they aren’t kicked out, life for working class people is set to get worse, report Sarah Bates and Tomáš Tengely-Evans

Letters—A hard working life, and now my pension has been stolen

This month I will be 62, but there will be no real happy birthday feeling until I am 66.

Labour promises to axe hated Universal Credit

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said his party will scrap the hated Universal Credit (UC) benefit if elected.

The Troublemaker—Plenty of funds for top cops and sticks to hit people with

A police chief who claims his service is underfunded has overseen a 50 percent rise in highly-paid officers.

The Troublemaker—Profits go up for firm denying benefits as one victim dies

A SIX STONE emaciated man who was deemed “fit to find work” has died. But the company running the tests that deny people benefits is rolling in profit.

Benefit freezes contribute to soaring poverty figures

Some 200,000 more children were pushed into absolute poverty in 2017-18

Women turn to ‘baby banks’ after Tories drive up poverty

26 March 2019
Soaring numbers of pregnant women have to use “baby banks” to get essentials for their children, according to a Daily Mirror newspaper investigation.

Strike to stop suffering at Universal Credit centres

13 March 2019
Workers who manage people’s claims for the hated Universal Credit (UC) benefit began a two-day strike on Monday to win a better service for claimants.

Pushed into poverty by cruel benefit freeze—scrap this vile government

12 March 2019
Tory chancellor Philip Hammond’s spring statement this week follows a decision from MPs last week to continue with a freeze on many benefits.

Benefit rules broken in Jodey Whiting’s death

26 February 2019
The government breached its rules over its treatment of a disabled benefit claimant who killed herself after her payments were stopped.

Vicious Universal Credit plan is in chaos - now bury it

08 January 2019
The Tories have been forced into a drastic retreat over their hated Universal Credit (UC) benefit.

Universal Credit claimants forced to beg online to get by

01 January 2019
Hundreds of people have been forced to beg for money online because of the Tories’ hated Universal Credit (UC) benefit.

Universal Suffering—people at the sharp end of the Tories’ war on benefits speak out

10 December 2018
Millions of people face a miserable Christmas because of the Tories’ hated Universal Credit (UC) benefit. Around 1.1 million currently claim UC, many with dependent children.

Reports round up: Protests tell Tories—stop and scrap Universal Credit

04 December 2018
Protests tell Tories—stop and scrap Universal Credit

News round-up - more workers are in poverty, says new charity report

04 December 2018
A fifth of the population in Britain is in poverty according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity—and some four million are workers.

Action day to stop Universal Credit

27 November 2018
Activists were set to take part in a day of action against Universal Credit this Saturday

Tory austerity destroys lives for ideological reasons, says UN official

16 November 2018
"What I saw is a lot of misery. A lot of people feel the system is failing them. They feel the system is there just to punish them,” said the UN's Philip Alston

Report from MPs slams ‘pointlessly cruel’ benefit sanctions

06 November 2018
A damning report slammed the government’s brutal benefit sanctions regime. It said the human cost of sanctions, where benefits are withheld, is “simply too high” and “pointlessly cruel”.

‘Fortress mentality’ means Tories ignore ‘unacceptable hardship’ of Universal Credit

26 October 2018
The Tories’ hated Universal Credit benefit is causing “unacceptable hardship and difficulties” for many claimants, according to a new report from MPs.

Tories partially retreat on Universal Credit amid outrage and fears of ‘riots’

23 October 2018
The Tories are under pressure over their hated Universal Credit (UC) benefit. They were last week forced to delay the rollout of UC from next year to 2020.