Poverty and inequality are financial challenges for local authorities and threaten the cohesion of their communities.
The briefing summarises the results of the Work and Pensions Committee’s (WPC) recent inquiry into Jobcentre Plus. The WPC’s report focuses in particular on the role of Jobcentre Plus (JCP) in the context of welfare reform and new roles and responsibilities for JCP which are progressing in parallel with resource reduction as a consequence of…
This briefing summarises Preventing Suicide in England: One Year On, the first annual report of the Governments suicide prevention strategy highlights recent research and good practice in suicide prevention.
There has been a growing interest in food banks in Parliament and among the media, prompted in large part by evidence of a rapid growth in the numbers of people turning to food banks to feed themselves and their families. The coordinating body of the UK’s largest network of food banks is The Trussell Trust.…
This briefing summarises the initial results of a longitudinal study on the impacts of welfare reform on social housing tenants. The study, Real Life Reform, is being led by a core group of seven housing providers, supported by the Northern Housing Consortium and with input from the University of York. Two reports have been published…
The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report (“Programmes to help families facing multiple challenges”) examining the design, implementation and performance of two separate government programmes to help families address a range of challenges; the DCLG’s ‘Troubled Families Programme’ and DWP’s ‘Families with Multiple Problems Programme’. The NAO believe that the rationale for both…
The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a Report on Council Tax Support produced by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The report seeks to evaluate the value for money of the Department for Communities & Local Government's (DCLG) introduction of Council Tax Support by assessing whether it achieved its policy objective of the transition to…
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s first annual report, State of the Nation 2013, sets out detailed evidence and analysis on child poverty and social mobility. Despite the commitment and efforts of Government and others, the scale and depth of progress are unequal to the social, economic and fiscal challenges. The Commission calls for…
A summary of Autumn Statement 2013 was published on 5 December.This briefing sets out a more detailed analysis of certain aspects of the Statement, including: the state of the economy, the programme for deficit reduction, planning and housing, local growth, and welfare (the AME cap). Strictly speaking, there is no ‘new news’ on the financial…
This report, available here addresses the following questions: 1.What is the extent of the problem of persistent low pay? 2.Are there significant numbers of low paid workers who remain stuck on low pay for long periods of time? 3.Do many workers ‘churn’ between low pay and better paid work? 4.Are there low paid workers who…
This briefing covers the recently published report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation titled Does Money Affect Children’s Outcomes? On the basis that there is insufficient research into the causal relationship between income and outcomes for children, the report explores at length and in significant detail the impact that money has on the wellbeing of children.…