Welfare

The national roll out of Universal Credit continued yesterday with the benefit now available to new single claimants in Kirkwall, Lerwick and Stornoway. Universal Credit, the new benefit that will replace Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment Support Allowance, Income Support, Tax Credits and Housing

Iain Duncan Smith Iain Duncan Smith is to remain in charge of welfare reform across the UK after prime minister David Cameron decided to retain him as work and pensions secretary in his new Conservative government.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp New CBI Scotland director Hugh Aitken’s calls for austerity to be a priority for the new SNP MPs have been criticised by Business for Scotland.

A new report has called on the Scottish Government to implement a gendered response to welfare reform mitigation after it found the cuts have had a “grotesquely disproportionate impact” on women. A study by equal opportunities organisation Engender revealed that £26 billion worth o

Around 86 per cent of low income social housing tenants have seen no sign of their financial situation improving despite a recovering economy, a new survey commissioned by UK charity Turn2us has found. Crucially, households that have experienced just one change in their circumstances are now twice a

The number of British people relying on food banks is expected to reach one million, according to figures from the Trussell Trust, the UK's biggest provider of emergency food aid. The report by the trust, which has more than 400 food banks in Britain, showed the number of people given three days' em

Stirling Council is to launch a range of measures to assist benefit claimants affected by the introduction of Universal Credit. A small number of new, single claimants in Stirling will start to receive the new benefit from 25th May.

Iain Duncan Smith The Conservatives are considering cuts of up to £80 a week for sick and disabled claimants if they win the election, plans leaked to the BBC have revealed.

Anne Power The coalition government’s welfare reforms have resulted in very few social housing tenants being able to find jobs despite their aim of moving people dependent on benefits into work, according to a new report by the London School of Economics (LSE).

Dame Anne Begg MPs have called for a full and “urgent” independent review to investigate whether benefit sanctions are being applied appropriately, fairly and proportionately.

Alex Neil Detailed information on the scale and reach of social security benefits to be devolved to Scotland has been published.

The Supreme Court has criticised the UK government’s benefit cap for breaching international law on the rights of children but has declined to overturn the controversial policy. Judges at the UK’s most senior court declared that the benefit cap, which restricts unemployed claimants to £500 a we

A Scottish Parliament committee has sent evidence that shows the link between the UK government’s welfare reform and an increase in the use of food banks to Scotland Office minister David Mundell MP. The move by the Welfare Reform Committee follows a call from Mr Mundell to show him evidence of th

Over half a million people in Scotland lived on less than half the average income in 2012/13 while six in ten people in relative poverty were in severe or extreme poverty, new data has revealed.Analysis by the Scottish Government shows 510,000 people were classed as living in households in severe o

Poorer Scots report feeling more confused and less secure following rapid cuts to their incomes, according to a study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation by researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU).It finds signs of close knit communities lending support to some members but an overall pictu