Universal credit (UC) claimants are not always getting extra amounts of UC they’re entitled to when they become eligible for some other benefits because of poor data-sharing within the DWP.
Our interviews show that claimants did not have the information they needed or wanted to understand how moving to UC would affect them. Such misinformation and misunderstanding are likely to be reasons some people are not moving to UC despite having a strong financial incentive to do so.
We welcome the commitment from the Scottish government that tackling child poverty is a top priority. Scottish government policies are working. However, soaring inflation and real terms UK benefit cuts in 2022 mean the gap between family incomes and the minimum cost of raising a child is widening horribly. It is more important than ever that all budget decisions are developed through a child poverty lens to understand the direct and indirect impacts on low-income families.
A report commissioned by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland from the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University has found a widening gap between the cost of raising a child in Scotland and actual family incomes, despite the significant impact of Scottish government policies and lower childcare costs.
Frances Ryan, Welfare Rights Worker at CPAG in Scotland, takes a look at ‘adult disability payment’ (ADP), a new disability benefit for working-age people who live in Scotland.
The DWP has just confirmed that it's pressing ahead with managed migration (the process by which people on the old ‘legacy’ benefits will move to universal credit (UC)). Here are six reasons for alarm as the government forges ahead with its plans to move 1.7m people by the end of 2024.
The year 2020 has put unprecedented pressures on families bringing up children. Parents across the world have taken on new challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic in keeping their children healthy and safe as well as properly fed, educated and entertained at a time when they have been required to stay at home, and when many families’ livelihoods have been threatened. Our cost of a child report looks at what items families need to provide a minimum socially acceptable standard of living for their children in 2020.
CPAG and the Church of England has produced a new report on the impact of the two-child limit after three years. Since 6 April 2017, families having a third or subsequent child are no longer entitled to additional support through child tax credit and universal credit.
How much does it cost to raise a child in 2016? This annual research from CPAG and Professor Donald Hirsch, Director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, finds that parents working on the new higher minimum wage still cannot earn enough to provide an acceptable minimum standard of living for their children. Families with two parents working full time on the ‘national living wage’ are 12% short of the basic amount needed for a minimum standard of living – as defined by the public.