Most families will gain nothing from the government's new Universal Credit , with ministers overstating the generosity of the benefit, a new report cl...

Work as an incentive to move off benefits should be immeasurable and driven by a desire to unburden society and fend for oneself. In a nutshell to give oneself dignity and pride. In general our society has no regard such notions because people feel they have a right to welfare money, it is their money, to which they are entitled.

On Monday 29 April the 'revolution' began. The government's Universal Credit Scheme designed both to simplify the benefits system and disincentivise dependency on it began... in Ashton-under-Lyne.

It is important, particularly as families and children form the largest groups that will be affected by Universal Credit's introduction, that the government uses the pilots to identify and address any harmful effects they may experience.

Iain Duncan Smith has said he does not want to get bogged down in defending the "nitty gritty" details of how his new benefit system works, amid conce...

Commentators who support the changes will focus on the simplification of the welfare system and improvement in work incentives that this new benefit will herald. Those worried about the impacts will wring their hands about likely difficulties with on-line claims, financial management and a small number of people who stand to receive less than under the current system. Both of these groups have a point.

The controversial benefit reform, Universal Credit, which replaces other benefits such as jobseeker's allowance, income support and other tax credits,...

It's such a shame. There was a wonderful opportunity to make something that worked. To get rid of what was failing and bring in new things that improved on the original. To end the mess and confusion. To repair the holes. Instead we have more holes. Bigger holes. Holes in places that used to work.

If the government is to have any hope of meeting its legal duty to eradicate child poverty by 2020, it must closely monitor how the benefits cap affects the wellbeing of the UK's poorest families.

Free school meals are an effective way to help move children out of poverty. The Children's Society estimates that, if the government made them available to all children in poverty, 100,000 of these children would be lifted out of poverty straight away.

For decades, the highly political anti-poverty industry has led the debate on the definition of poverty. They narrowly focus on eradicating poverty by increased benefits and expanding social services, where protection of benefits and the recipients' right not to work overshadows the argument that work equals empowerment and they promote the 'victimisation' of those they claim to represent.

MPs have raised fears that the government's huge welfare shake-up actually leaves the system more open to benefit fraud. A report by the Communitie...

Some pensioners with spare rooms will be hit by reductions in housing benefit under what critics dub the Government's "bedroom tax", the Department of...

As is becoming abundantly clear, 2013 will be extremely tough - on the unemployed and on workers on low incomes, on those with disabilities, on families, on single parents and, yes, on those who work with them and for them to help improve their circumstances.

The range of needs met through supported housing is indeed diverse and the challenges vary across the country. Leaving the task of allocating resources to local authorities makes sense.

Chancellor George Osborne is to announce plans to slash an extra £10 bn from the welfare budget by 2016-17 at the Conservative Party Conference on Mo...

Universal Credit will create a benefits system that will secure the safety net we are all proud of - with £2 billion a year more in benefits paid out and around 900,000 children and adults being lifted out of poverty - and ensure people are actively helped by the Welfare State into independence. Currently the system actively holds people back from getting into work and we have a duty to stop this.