The job seeker who set fire to himself in Birmingham appears to have been driven to this horrific act by an all-too-common glitch in the welfare system. A Citizens Advice Bureau worker explains how such desperation is only steps away for many seeking support from the British state.
David Cameron's welfare speech implored the UK's unemployed to 'do the right thing' and work their way out of hard times. His tough rhetoric and cunning manipulation of statistics fostered a dramatic press responsse. But if the 'welfare crisis' really is a crisis of social responsibility, then thi
Today marks the final reading of the legal aid bill in the Lords. If - as seems likely - the bill goes through, 'ordinary people' in Britain will be shocked to discover how thin is their access to law when things go wrong. Deborah Padfield, whose work has for several years been funded by legal aid
26K per family in hand-outs is the limit. Reasonable, isn't it? How else do we get Britain off benefits? A Citizens Advice Bureau adviser gives her views from the ground.
The plight of young carers in Britain is described by a benefits adviser at Cambridge Citizens Advice Bureau.
There is a new dangerous class in the UK: the precariat. Flexible hiring and firing is scarring a generation who want to work, causing an increase in mental health problems and making it harder for people to rejoin the labour force.
Constant fear, routine humiliation, no escape: this isn't prison, but life on incapacity benefit in the United Kingdom. There is another way: one that respects human dignity.
New changes intended to simplify the UK's welfare benefit system could have negative consequences. While the government moralises about "individual responsibility", its policies will entrench poverty for some
We conclude our series of 'Reports from the Poverty Line' with a call for a reassessment of who contributes to society, and who is parasitic. Why can't we look at the wealth-generating potential of the poor, and the costs of the rich to the health of our country?
Deborah Padfield, a citizen’s advice bureau adviser, returns to report from the poverty line. In the fourth of a series of five posts, she describes the debilitating levels of insecurity under which benefits claimants, and especially those with disabilities, are often forced to live
Deborah Padfield, a citizen’s advice bureau adviser, returns to report from the poverty line. In the third of a series of five posts, she examines the drive to get claimants off benefits. Should we be deterring state 'scroungers', or helping the 'work-hungry' masses into employment?
Deborah Padfield, a citizen’s advice bureau adviser, returns to report from the poverty line – a part of Britain that is outside David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’. In the second of a series of five posts, she describes how politicians and the media would much rather focus on benefit fraud than the far
