Our latest briefing on Universal Credit sets out the problems with the design, which turn it from a poverty reducing measure to a poverty increasing measure. This briefing was last updated in April 2019. Read the summary below or download the briefing in full. Summary The design of Universal …
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Perpetuating a dangerous myth
Challenging the myths around ‘workless families’. For many years the myth of ‘workless families’ and a ‘culture of worklessness’ has been perpetuated by politicians who should know better. Recent debates over Universal Credit, and the scandal of Ben Bradley’s blog are just two examples of this. It …
Gambling – a chance to have your say
Ever since I’ve been working on policies around preventing harm from gambling, I’ve been amazed at the number of people who tell me, privately, at parties, at church, in lifts, that yes, they had a friend/boyfriend/parent who had problems with gambling. Problem gambling is often a hidden problem, …
One hundred days as a ONE Intern
Reflections Yesterday marked my one hundredth day as a ONE Programme Intern. Following an application filled out partly as a means of procrastination the day before an exam and a Skype interview at the ungodly hour of 5am New York time, I write this from the Joint Public Issues Team Office on the …
The story behind the exodus
Over 650,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh following widespread ethnic violence in Rakhine State. This is one of the most rapid movements of refugees that we have seen anywhere in recent years but what has led to this crisis and how might it be resolved? …
Merry Christmas David Gauke
This year at 3generate (Methodist Children and Youth Assembly) we asked young people to take part in some activities which explored how the benefits system in the UK works. After taking part in our activities many of the young people saw a lack of fairness in the system and responded by writing …
Notes from the latest meeting of the APPG on Refugees
‘When they take you there, the best of your life is taken away from you.’ Notes from the latest meeting of the APPG on Refugees. The motto of the Poverty Truth Commission ‘Nothing about Us without Us is for Us,’ is one that Britain’s parliamentarians would do well to remember. The idea that policy …
Bamboozled by Brexit?
It was all going so well… Last week we saw quite a bit of movement on the issue of Brexit, after what appeared to be deadlock came a flurry of announcements of progress being made in many different areas. Firstly we found out that, for the first time since their introduction in 2014 all of the …
Should Donald Trump come to Britain on a state visit?
In the light of the current controversy over the Britain First tweets, two JPIT members test out the arguments for and against inviting Donald Trump for a state visit… Madalena writes: President Trump did not retweet Britain First by accident. Even if he did not know the nature of the …
Universal Credit: Solving one problem by creating another
The changes announced in Wednesday’s budget are likely to improve the often awful first weeks of a Universal Credit claim. The problem is that, rather than address the core flaws in the benefit’s design, they patch it over. The announcement is not so much a step in the right direction as making the …