Latest editorial
SOCIAL security staff union PCS demanded a full independent inquiry into Britain’s cruel benefit sanctions yesterday as new evidence emerged of the system’s role in massaging down jobless figures.
General secretary Mark Serwotka used a Commons appearance to urge an investigation into the growing scandal which has seen benefits decision-makers handed “astonishing” targets to strip payouts in 80 per cent of cases referred by jobcentres.
Sanctions for breaches such as missing an interview or appointment have been applied more than a million times since October 2012, leaving thousands penniless.
As a proportion of GDP the total welfare bill is lower than it was 15 years ago. The claim that it is spiralling out of control is mythmaking, argues DIANE ABBOTT
In part IV of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY tells how austerity minister Francis Maude’s attempt to destroy the PCS Civil Service union totally backfired
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
In the current climate, it is vital to bust the myths and put forward the case for a humane and decent social security system that supports people, argues FRAN HEATHCOTE