Latest Articles By Simon Collyer

TORY CONFERENCE - Sir Iain Duncan Smith has launched a last-ditch bid to persuade the Government to keep a £20-a-week uplift in the value of Universal Credit. The former Tory leader piled the pressure on Boris Johnson to perform a U-turn as he said i...

UNIVERSAL CREDIT CUT - The outpouring of anger and frustration at the removal of the £20 a week uplift is simply unprecedented. Hundreds and hundreds of organisations on the newsfeeds that we subscribe to are calling for this £20 per week uplift to b...

HOW TO KEEP YOUR BANK DETAILS SAFE - Banking trade body UK Finance has described the level of fraud in the UK as a ‘national security threat’, with criminals stealing up to £4m a day from Brits in the first half of the year. As a result, a new ‘...

BROADBAND - A new scheme to help jobseekers has been launched.  Jobseekers claiming Universal Credit are now able to claim six months' free fibre-optic broadband from TalkTalk, thanks to a new government scheme that launched today. Jobcentre wor...

DISABILITY BENEFITS - The BBC have reported that 287,000 people won a tribunal appeal in the last three years with most appeals centred on PIP (Personal Independence Payments). That represents a sucess rate of seven out of ten people who appealed. Tr...

UNIVERSAL CREDIT CUT - Further pressure has been piled on to the callous UK Tory government after Baroness Ruth Davidson described plans to cut Universal Credit as the ‘wrong thing to do’. During an appearance on Peston, the former Sco...

ROUGH SLEEPING - Figures show the number of households assessed as rough sleeping across England have soared by 39.4% in the past year, up from 8,310 to 11,580. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who this week held a House of Commons debate on rou...

INFLATION - Today it was announced that the UK inflation rate rose to a record 3.2% in the year to August, its highest level in nine years.  The Consumer Prices Index rose from 2% in July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), i...

ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP - On Tuesday 7th September, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Universal Credit met to hear evidence on the anticipated impacts of the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit, which will begin to take effect on 6th October....

CHILDREN IN CARE - Reducing the number of children in care. Fewer children and young people should end up in care, thanks to a £500 million fund to help support families to stay together. Announced as part of the latest Programme for Government,...