HT John Ganz: "I have the impression that the persons directing the policy of the Hitler Government are not normal. Many of us, indeed, have a feeling that we are living in a country where fantastic hooligans and eccentrics have got the upper hand.” —Sir Horace Rumbold to London, 1933

Daily Mail joins in the false benefits comparisons. This time they managed to give a 3 child family on benefits over £25k more than is correct when comparing with a single high earner. benefitsinthefuture.com/tis-the-season…#benefitst#workr#DailyMailil

‘tis the season to be jolly… wrong, in the Daily Mail. This time the Mail manages to give a 3 child family on benefits over £25k more than is correct when comparing with a single high earner. benefitsinthefuture.com/tis-the-seas... #benefits #work #dailymail

‘tis the season to be jolly… wrong, in the Daily Mail. This time the Mail manages to give a 3 child family on benefits over £25k more than is correct when comparing with a single high earner. benefitsinthefuture.com/tis-the-seas... #benefits #work #dailymail

‘tis the season to be jolly… misleading, in the Daily Mail. This time the Mail manages to give a 3 child family on benefits over £25k more than is true when comparing with a single high earner. The details benefitsinthefuture.com

Have only seen what's quoted here but I'm sure NC's right that 'failures' to report changes of circumstance were the main driver of the overpayment issues. A system that imposes major compliance costs on claimants and draconian responses to breaches will do that. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The lifting of the 2 child limit makes a big difference to those working over 16 hours at NLW levels of earning. That’s particularly true where they are paying for childcare and the, largely unnoticed, lifting of the 2 child childcare limit applies. Politically, it’s a work incentive measure.

Lies, Damned Lies and the Telegraph – Gareth Morgan. I had not got my head around the two children rules until I heard from my friend Gareth Morgan at our webinar and from Alan Chaplin who highlighted this wondrous piece on social media. This piece is by Gareth Morgan on December 1, 2025 The…

Lies, Damned Lies and the Telegraph - Gareth Morgan. henrytapper.com/2025/12/03/l... The, much more than misleading, figures given in the ‘research’ and enlarged in the article are a sad indictment of a political assault masquerading as accurate reporting.

Lies, damned lies and the Telegraph. They posted CSJ figures using an outrageously false comparison of 2 cases. It claimed a benefits family were better off by £18k than a working household when the real figure was £16k worse off. The details benefitsinthefuture.com #benefits #budget

I hope somebody will complain to IPSO about this (and the similar Express splash). If so this will be a very useful reference.

Lies, damned lies and the Telegraph. They posted CSJ figures using an outrageously false comparison of 2 cases. It claimed a benefits family were better off by £18k than a working household when the real figure was £16k worse off. The details benefitsinthefuture.com #benefits #budget

Ending 2 child cap offers no help to those hit by OBC. No family in Wales with 3 kids escapes but add that to the new per-child childcare support and it's a real jump in support if you're earning over 16 x NLW. The better-off in-work numbers can look huge.

All purpose Budget post. “I want to get more and pay less”.

If Welsh local authorities matched the best Pension Credit take up performance of a Welsh LA then this is the extra annual benefit that would go into pockets and the local economy. £29.5m a year! #Wales #benefits #pensioners

Is welfare rights work the reason some areas have double the Pension Credit take-up rate of others? benefitsinthefuture.com/4092-2/ #pensions #benefits #older #takeup

Some areas see almost 90% of eligible Pension Credit paid but others only get 40%. Why and what’s different. benefitsinthefuture.com/4092-2/ #pensions #benefits #older

Some areas see almost 90% of eligible Pension Credit paid but others only get 40%. Why and what’s different. benefitsinthefuture.com/4092-2/ #pensions #benefits

"the best performing areas are those which have had a long record of active welfare rights work while those at the bottom have been more poorly resourced" @ferrinfo.bsky.social Gareth Morgan

Some areas see almost 90% of eligible Pension Credit paid but others only get 40%. Why and what’s different. benefitsinthefuture.com/4092-2/ #pensions #benefits

It’s suggested that the living wage could go up to £12.70 next year. But of every extra £ paid by an employer in 2026, over 90% could go to the Treasury. Why isn’t it going to the low paid worker? See benefitsinthefuture.com/who-actually...

It’s suggested that the living wage could go up to £12.70 next year. But of every extra £ paid by an employer in 2026, over 90% could go to the Treasury. Why isn’t it going to the low paid worker? See benefitsinthefuture.com/who-actually...

It’s suggested that the living wage could go up to £12.70 next year. But of every extra £ paid by an employer in 2026, over 90% could go to the Treasury. Why isn’t it going to the low paid worker? See benefitsinthefuture.com/who-actually...

Great to see the importance of advice services emphasised in the Work & Pensions Committee report on pensioner poverty publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cm... Lots of points from my and other advice sector evidence picked up on.

Can we stop talking about £5bn a year spending cut. People on benefits spend their money straight away and very locally. It’s £5bn a year being taken off local shops and businesses. It’s £5bn a year less supporting local jobs. It’s going to close shops and businesses and cut jobs.

Can we stop talking about £5bn a year spending cut. People on benefits spend their money straight away and very locally. It’s £5bn a year being taken off local shops and businesses. It’s £5bn a year less supporting local jobs. It’s going to close shops and businesses and cut jobs.

Rather chuffed the Work & Pensions Committee picked a bit of my evidence as an example of their inquiry. x.com/CommonsWorkP...

“Ministers hail 'huge' minimum wage boost” but the reality is very different benefitsinthefuture.com/the-new-gove... #benefits #tax #minimmwage #NLW

Pleased to have the chance to give evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee session on pensioner poverty this week. Really pleased that Daphne Hall and Gary Vaux are also there to talk about what advice can do.

Governments tend to focus on reducing health-related benefit in-flows by tightening eligibility criteria. But doing so concentrates large losses among a subset of claimants - hitting some low-income families hard. Read more➡️ buff.ly/d1u2Tkn

@samfr.bsky.social Just received an email from gov.uk advising me to use the Internet if I don't have Internet access.

I got my NI figures wrong in my analysis of the NLW increase in 2025. I said that the government could get up to 93.78% of the extra paid by employers. The actual figure should be 92.56%. The corrected post is at benefitsinthefuture.com/the-new-gove.... Many apologies.

Scientist exposes secret behind ‘longevity diet’ myth: pension fraud- fascinating www.thetimes.com/article/db9f...

Due to the impact of various tax and benefit policies, increases in the minimum wage do not have an entirely progressive impact on household incomes. This is the result of some benefits being withdrawn and more taxes being paid as earnings rise.

Another AI win. This is Google's AI summary of NI in April 25. "Class 1 National Insurance rate The rate for employees will be 15% from April 2025. ... Employment Allowance All employers will be able to claim the Employment Allowance"

Really interesting @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social piece, but I worry about the implications some may draw Levels of payments & conditionality pushing/pulling people into different parts of the benefits system doesn't necessarily equate to those factors driving worklessness 🧵 www.ft.com/content/1409...

Great @nawra.bsky.social meeting this week. Some really great things being done across the country by advisers. Next years 50th anniversary plans look exciting and productive.

On a related note, the recent (supposed) increases in economic inactivity due to ill health, and rising claims for health-related benefits, has been used to justify claims that we have a "spiralling" benefits bill. But when we look at welfare spending forecasts *in the round*, this just isn't true

🚨 One week to go until our event: 'Challenges for the means-tested benefit system for older people' Wednesday 11 December | 10 - 11:30am | Online Register to hear new research highlighting key issues with the benefit system around retirement age:

Court of Appeal has dismissed SSWP appeal in case about right to reside for EU citizen on basis of self sufficiency (where source of that was UK partner's social assistance benefits but they did not increase due to his presence)- judgment and summary on CPAG's website: cpag.org.uk/welfare-righ...

Repost if BlueSky is now your primary social media site.

Yet third sector organisations seeking to help people into or towards employment have short time limited funding one where i am a trustee have most funds ending. March bit.ly/3SLAZu8

Corrected and expanded the UK Benefits starter pack. Suggestions please.

Ok, I've caved & joined the starter pack bandwagon These are people who will be interesting & useful to follow as the new government sets out its plans around social security, work & poverty Sorry if I've missed off good people - will add to it as more come to mind or join go.bsky.app/8WEVftJ

If the average Pension Credit claim is about £3,000 a year, how many winter fuel spurred claims does it take to mean this is not just non-money-saving but actually a progressive change?

Benefits and pension increases are not indexed to increase their value in the future. It’s to compensate for their fall in value over the past period. Suggesting adjusting them because inflation may fall in the future is a demonstration of ignorance of this fundamental truth.

A qulck reminder of what the benefit cap is. It's the government saying "we've worked out what the mimimum you need to live on is, and we're deliberately going to give you less".

Some new FCA research that came as a complete shock. "We find that consumers fall behind on credit payments significantly more when they lose their job."