Gauke Signals He Will Press On With Universal Credit

The work and pensions secretary has signalled that the government will press ahead with controversial welfare changes, insisting the system of universal credit is “making work pay and transforming lives”. Responding to a letter signed by 30 Labour MPs and the Green co-leader Caroline Lucas, expressing concerns about UC and calling for its implementation to be paused, David Gauke underlined his commitment to the policy. The two-page letter suggests there is little appetite in government for softening planned changes to the welfare system in the wake of the election campaign, which saw Labour focus on the impact of austerity. Read more on the Guardian website.

Poll Shows Tenants' Dissatisfaction

The vast majority of social housing tenants do not feel listened to or cared about by their landlords, a survey has found. The Big Tenant Survey of 61,000 tenants found only 32% of people were satisfied that their landlord "listens to them and acts upon their views", while just 22% feel that their landlord "cares about them and their family".  More than half of the survey respondents would not currently recommend their landlord to a friend or relative. The survey found that 25% of the people surveyed fully understand the current welfare changes, and 42% of those receiving full housing benefit are highly anxious about having their rent paid directly to them instead of straight to their landlords. About a third (33.8%) of survey respondents believe that direct payments will make it difficult for them to budget.  Read more on Yahoo News.

100,000 Trapped In Larger Homes Want To Move

The ‘spare room subsidy’ or ‘bedroom tax’ has left tenants struggling to cope and has failed to free up homes in many areas, research for the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has found. It also discovered that savings to the DWP will fall short in the policy’s first year. The findings come in two separate studies published by JRF. The first is on the Housing Benefit size criteria (often referred to as the ‘spare room subsidy’ or ‘bedroom tax’). The second looks at the impact wider welfare changes have had on social landlords and tenants. The findings use the latest available data to provide an early snapshot of how the policies have affected tenants, landlords and the government, one year on from a raft of changes to the benefits system. Read more and download summaries of the two reports at the JRF website.

Government's 'Welfare Revolution' Starts To Unwind

The DWP has been successful in making the political argument for welfare changes, and polls continue to show support for cuts to benefits across all parties. Whitehall analysts wonder, however, if the department has bitten off more than it can chew by announcing and attempting to implement a range of ambitious new policies, affecting vast numbers of people, in one term.  Officials have come under huge strain as they struggle to push forward with reform, at a time when the departmental headcount has been cut radically. The Institute for Fiscal Studies calculated recently that between 2011 and 2016 the department will have lost 40% of its workforce. The Public and Commercial Services union said the DWP had cut 20,000 jobs since May 2010.  Policy analysts agree that part of the problem lies with the department's determination to introduce several major reforms simultaneously, focusing on getting them running, and less on how well they work once they have been launched. Read more on the Guardian website.