Welfare

Concerns have been raised that more people could lose their homes after the cost of a typical two-bed private rental property rose by 4.4% in the last year. Nationally the average rent on a two-bed property is £643 this year up from £616 in 2016 and the charity says that people will struggle to co

(from left) Melville’s chief operating officer Morag MacDonald, welfare benefits advisers Andrew Collinge and Jacque Mather, and housing services manger Sean Dickson Tenants of Melville Housing Association are better off to the tune of nearly £700,000 thanks to the hard work of an award-winning W

Derek Mackay The Scottish Government is calling on Chancellor Philip Hammond to abandon their “failed” austerity agenda and stop the rollout of Universal Credit to enable “fundamental flaws” to be fixed.

Craig Anderson with the Plain English guide Stirling District Citizens Advice Bureau has today published its new Plain English Guide to Help Sort out Benefits to help people overcome the system’s complexities.

The Trussell Trust has called for urgent action to improve the system of Universal Credit after new figures revealed a 20% rise in the use of food banks in Scotland in the last year. According to the charity, a record 76,764 three-day emergency food supply packs were given to people in need in the f

Drew Hendry An SNP MP will today host a meeting for stakeholders to share their experience of the roll-out and impact of Universal Credit (UC).

Shelter Scotland has said the latest Scottish Welfare Fund statistics from the Scottish Government show the human cost of the housing crisis and welfare reform. The latest figures cover the period from April-June 2017 and show a marked increase on the same period last year.

MPs have called on the UK government to reduce the waiting period for the first Universal Credit payment to a maximum of one month after saying that “no proper justification” has been offered for the minimum six week term currently in place. An urgent, unanimous report published by the Commons W

David Bookbinder The UK government’s U-turn on imposing the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap to supported housing and the wider social housing sector is to be welcomed but we are not out of the woods yet, says David Bookbinder.

Kate Webb Adopting a bunker mentality is flawed when credible warnings are stacking up, says Kate Webb.

The UK government has dropped proposals to impose the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap to supported housing and the wider social housing sector following widespread criticism of the policy. Due to come into force for social tenants in April 2019, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) proposals

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has approved a Labour request for an emergency debate today over the planned roll-out of Universal Credit. Last week, the Commons backed Labour’s advisory motion calling for the controversial welfare changes to be put on hold by 299 votes to nil.

The UK government has bowed to pressure by agreeing to introduce a free helpline for people seeking information on Universal Credit but has rejected calls to pause the roll-out of the controversial benefit. Ahead of the roll out of Universal Credit debate at Westminster yesterday, work and pensions

The SNP and Scottish Labour have called on MPs from across political divide have to vote on a debate on Universal Credit today and halt its roll-out across the UK. SNP social justice spokesperson, Neil Gray, has said Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, must ensure her MPs stand up for Scotl

Around 12,000 mainstream social tenants across Scotland aged under 35 could collectively face an annual rent affordability gap of up to £8.6 million when a UK government cap on housing benefit into force, according to a new report. Under proposals by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Loca