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Blog

Access to justice, one step at a time: Part 2

17 November 2020
Part 1 set out our approach at CPAG to access to justice in the social security field, namely ensuring: access to information, access to advice and assistance, and access to mechanisms for challenging unlawful decisions. Continuing with the last of these steps, the normal route for challenging a social security decision is by appealing it to a tribunal. Sometimes though, the appeal route is not available or, while available in principle, is not effective. In those situations, the route of legal challenge is judicial review.
Benefit delivery Blog Legal Mandatory reconsideration and appeals UK Universal credit
Blog

Furthering access to justice, one step at a time: Part 1

17 November 2020
The ‘rule of law’ and ‘access to justice’ are concepts that are seen as fundamental to the proper functioning of a healthy, democratic society. The rule of law becomes perilously fragile if ordinary people are unable to hold public bodies to account.
Benefit delivery Blog Legal Mandatory reconsideration and appeals Tax credits UK Universal credit
Blog

Algorithms in social security: cause for concern?

28 August 2020
Two weeks ago pupils, parents and schools were up in arms when the news broke that 40 per cent of teacher-assessed A level results had been downgraded by at least one grade. The culprit? A computer, or to be precise, an algorithm. This episode clearly shows the chaos that can be caused to people’s lives when the technology that so many parts of public services now rely on goes wrong.
Benefit delivery Blog Legal Mandatory reconsideration and appeals UK Universal credit
Blog

Is food the right response to child hunger?

13 January 2020
A Mori poll for the Trussell Trust, published on 16 October in the Daily Mirror, showed more than half the British public think food banks are an embarrassment to this country and 7 in 10 think they should not exist in a modern society. They think it’s the government’s responsibility to deal with it. They are right. More people than ever, 21%, say ‘poverty and inequality’ is the most important issue facing Britain - the highest rate since 1997.
Benefit cap Benefit delivery Benefit levels Blog Childcare Two child limit UK Work and pay
Blog

Why give money to people who ‘don’t need it’? The case against intensive means-testing

05 November 2019
Having a targeted safety net – or means-testing – can consistently miss the mark. While it’s supposed to target social security payments, it is not always the most effective way to reach the people we might define as ‘needing help most’. Perhaps counter-intuitively, more universal support, such as child benefit for families with children, or personal independence payment (PIP) for certain people with disabilities, may reach more of the target group, but simply and without stigma.
Benefit delivery Benefit levels Blog Secure futures UK Welfare reform
Blog

CPAG judicial review project – early successes

26 April 2019
As our Early Warning System has found increasingly in recent months, people are facing problems with how decisions are being made about their benefits. It’s vital that people have the right of appeal, and that decision-making is clear and fair, and we know this is not always the case.
Benefit delivery Benefits for people from abroad Blog Carers Disability benefits Legal Mandatory reconsideration and appeals UK
Blog

Why food is not the answer to hunger in the UK

05 April 2019
In a week when CPAG has published the brilliant new book Living hand to mouth – children and food in low income families by Rebecca O’Connell, Abigail Knight and Julia Brannen, it might seem strange to suggest that food is not the solution to hunger.
Benefit delivery Benefit levels Blog Free school meals UK
Blog

OBR sceptical about DWP's claims about Universal Credit

09 February 2018
The roll-out of Universal Credit may be running five years later than planned, having wasted £40 million in botched IT, and been emasculated by austerity cuts since 2015, but its advocates in the DWP still argue that it is all going to be worthwhile in the end because its labour supply effects will get people into work and onto higher earnings
Benefit delivery Blog UK Universal credit Welfare reform Work and pay
Blog

Six key points from 'The Austerity Generation: the impact of a decade of cuts on families with children'

06 November 2017
Today, CPAG publishes a major new study on the impact of austerity on families with children: ‘The Austerity Generation: the impact of a decade of cuts on family incomes and child poverty‘.
Benefit cap Benefit delivery Benefit levels Blog Child poverty statistics Children’s benefits In-work benefits Tax credits Two child limit UK Universal credit Welfare reform Work and pay
Blog

The effects of welfare reform: Sue’s story

20 July 2017
Sue is part of Dole Animators – a group of people with experience of the social security system in the UK who work together to highlight the effects of welfare reform.
Benefit delivery Blog UK Welfare reform