Commenting in response to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty action Group, said: “Despite all the talk, working families are once again at the front of the queue for spending cuts. With 6 in 10 poor children living with a working parent, real terms cuts to tax credits, housing and child benefits are grim news...
This is CPAG’s response to a DWP consultation gathering views on its proposal to end, or at the very least limit, the production of take-up estimates for six key means-tested benefits
This article is an update on ‘Disability and discrimination: a case for special treatment' in Bulletin 226. That article discussed the arguments put forward in the case of Burnip v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. In this article we consider the Court of Appeal’s decision in Burnip and the joined cases of Trengove and Gorry.
In a unanimous ruling, the Court of Appeal has held that the size criteria in the housing benefit regulations discriminate against disabled people, because they do not allow for an additional room to be paid for where a disabled person has a carer, or where two children cannot share a room because of disability.
Key points from Budget 2012: £2.165 billion of cuts to support for working families to go ahead next month; child poverty still expected to rise by an average of 100,000 children a year under Coalition’s spending plans; hundreds of thousands of low earners will gain just £33 from the tax threshold rise, not £220 as was claimed.
