UK news
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Disability
DWP sent Windrush pensioner £33,000 bill for disability benefits
Valerie Baker was ordered to return ‘overpayments’ for past claims and threatened with deportation.
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Society
High court rules in favour of carers over two-child benefits cap
Judge says government’s rules on exemptions ‘in conflict with the purposes of the legislation’.
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Society
More than a third of low-income working parents forced to skip meals
Poll reveals the "desperate choices low paid families have to make", as UK Government is urged to adopt the "real Living Wage".
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Charities
140,000 households cannot afford to top up pre-payment energy meters
Citizens Advice calls for urgent action to prevent vulnerable households from being left without light and heating.
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Society
DWP face legal action over ESA underpayments
Charity to challenge DWP decision to limit backdated payments for disabled people who were underpaid when transferred to ESA.
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Housing
Corbyn pledges ‘one million genuinely affordable homes’ – speech
New Green Paper promises 'Houses for the Many' with a focus on building homes for social rent.
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More News
Military veterans should not be subjected to benefit sanctions – new study
Study is the first to focus specifically on how veterans experience the benefits system and asks whether commitments to the armed forced covenant are being honoured.
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Politics
PM refuses to condemn ‘inhumane’ rape clause comments
PM defended comments made by DWP boss Esther McVey that the universal credit rape clause provides victims with “double support.”
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DWP
Universal Credit: women forced to choose between poverty and abuse
SNP health spokesperson says Universal Credit flaws risk trapping women in abusive relationships.
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Charities
Single parents hardest hit by unfair benefit sanctions, research shows
Single parents are more likely to be subjected to unfair and unjustified benefit sanctions than any other group of claimants, new research shows.
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Disability
Disabled people struggle to afford food and heating, study says
Charity says quarter of disabled adults have less than £50 a week left after tax and housing costs.
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Conservatives
SNP demand urgent meeting with DWP boss over ‘unforgivable’ rape clause comments
DWP Secretary claimed forcing women to prove they were raped to claim benefits gives them an "opportunity to talk".
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More News
Thousands of patients to get personalised NHS budgets
Around 350,000 people could soon qualify for right to select and pay for treatments through bespoke care plan.
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Politics
Esther McVey claims Tory ‘rape clause’ gives victims an ‘opportunity to talk’
Work and Pensions Secretary faces calls to apologise after defending policy that forces women to relive rape ordeal to claim benefits.
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Society
‘My constituent had his benefits sanctioned for having a heart attack’
Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey MP, accused of ignoring the real life impact of Tory social security cuts.
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Charities
Welfare cuts ‘exacerbating’ youth homelessness, charity warns
Changes to welfare benefit entitlements and a lack of affordable homes are "exacerbating" youth homelessness, warns Homeless Link report.
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Featured
Majority of Councils in England struggle to find housing for homeless people
Social housing shortages forcing Councils in England to place homeless people in hostels and B&B's.
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Disability
Disabled people lose legal aid in 99% of benefits disputes
Official figures show that cuts have caused a massive drop in claimants granted help for welfare battles.
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Conservatives
DWP ‘make work pay’ claims ‘reeks of hypocrisy’, says SNP MP
Government department has taken on over 27,000 people for unpaid work placements since 2011.
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Conservatives
Cruel Tory benefit sanctions regime to face committee inquiry
Work and Pensions Committee to investigate "copious evidence of claimants being docked hundreds of pounds".
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Charities
Universal Credit: self-employed left teetering on a financial cliff-edge
A self-employed person on Universal Credit could be £630 worse off a year when compared to other workers claiming the same benefit.
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Disability
Homeless family with disabled children forced to share single hotel room for three years
Ombudsman says Bristol City Council did not treat their housing and homelessness applications properly.
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Featured
Deaths of UK homeless people more than double in five years
Guardian research finds rising deaths of rough sleepers or those in temporary housing.
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Conservatives
Free bus passes for elderly and disabled protected ‘for the foreseeable future’
Government amends legislation so that the concessions will no longer need to be reviewed every five years.
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