After a long summer break, and with some guilt. An updated interim version of the paper can be downloaded here as we wait for the promised extra details as the Lords start debating the Bill tomorrow. This has an updated childcare section which looks at the two favoured options in more detail. More soon….. hopefully.

Oops! Lounging in Italy meant that I forgot to say that the second reading of the Bill in the Lords has been put back to September 13th after the recess. This is a general discussion session and precedes the more detailed Lords’ Committee Stage.

An interesting day today at the annual DWP Convention. Unusually hesitant presentations by officials and ministers. Lord Freud made several errors in his address and the general lack of certainty in the details of the new scheme, even after the Bill has left the commons, is still surprising. I’ve been working on modelling the transition […]

The main story in today’s Observer is a leaked letter from DCLG about the effects of the proposed capping. You can read it at Tories admit benefit cuts risk 40,000 homeless families. The likely effects aren’t new, many organisations and individuals have pointed out the dangers before, and even the government have accepted them publicly. […]

Still no decision but I gather that the options are narrowed to Option A or Option B. These are generally seen as being the ‘least bad’ of the proposals but will still mean losses for existing childcare help recipients. They also mean that Universal Credit making everyone ‘better-off in work’ may not happen for a […]

I’ve posted a new edition of the Future of Benefits paper with substantial sections on the childcare options and earnings disregards added. You can download it here.

Not directly related to the Welfare Reform Bill but today’s Legal Aid Bill abolishes all civil legal aid for help with social security benefits.

Is that the question that the nobler minister had in mind and answered too soon? On the BBC Politics Show on Sunday 12th June, Lord Freud, being asked about the fairness of the cap said “We’re looking at exceptional circumstances which some people may find themselves in and we’re going to be putting out arrangements […]

The Government has told MPs on the Welfare Reform Committee that they are considering a number of options for childcare support in UC. They are: Paying 70% of childcare costs to all lone parents and all couples where both parents are in work, up to a limit of £125 (for one child) and £210 (for […]

A second set of briefing documents on Universal Credit have been published Contributory benefits Second earners Transitional protection They can be downloaded here