The idea that child poverty in the UK can only be effectively addressed by a combination of better pay and better state support is not a new one. Here, Donald Hirsch revisits it.
Child Poverty Action Group and Working Families have launched a new project, ‘Britain works’, looking at in-work poverty and how work can be improved for families living on a low income.
In this issue we focus on the world of work. Unemployment is low in the UK, but in-work poverty is at record levels. Debates about the nature and future of work are increasing. What can be done to tackle in-work poverty and the growth in temporary, low-hours and insecure forms of work?
Mark Willis reviews recent caselaw about attempted appeals against tax credit ‘notices’ referred to by HMRC as ‘Statements Like an Award Notice’ or SLANs.
Martin Williams discusses securing child disability elements for the 28,000 families who lost out due to the failure of the DWP to notify HMRC about awards of disability living allowance (DLA).
The roll out of the live and now full universal credit (UC) services has highlighted a number of problems. In some cases, these are caused primarily by interpretation of legislation and, in others, by DWP policies and systems. Henri Krishna summarises some of the main problems CPAG has encountered and shares solutions where we have them.
An experiment with the privatisation of decision making in tax credits appears to be in tatters after HMRC ended its contract with Concentrix (the private company contracted to investigate the correctness of tax credit awards) early. But where does this leave advisers with cases opened by Concentrix, and does it mean we should expect any improvement in the quality of administration and decision making? Mark Willis investigates.
Kirsty McKechnie describes some early examples of problems with the operation of the ‘full service’ of universal credit, as reported to CPAG in Scotland’s Early Warning System.
