Latest editorial
Ministers received a Commons battering yesterday over widespread suffering caused by delays in payments under chaotic welfare programmes.
Work and Pensions Minister Mike Penning was forced to admit to a “completely unacceptable” backlog in work capability assessments by reviled contractor Atos.
Minutes later, he confessed to angry Labour MPs that assessments for personal independence payment (PIP) were taking “too long,” partly because of internal problems at the DWP, Atos and Capita.
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
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