by Gareth Morgan on November 3, 2021
With some very, very boring but pretty important numbers The government has been playing around with the tax and benefit system quite a lot this year. They have increased and decreased rates, tapers, thresholds and other factors with, apparently, wild enthusiasm. All of the announcements have been, predictably, treated as stand-alone elements with those that […]
by Gareth Morgan on June 24, 2021
The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee is inquiring into the effects of the 2016 changes to the way in which pensions could be used and how to protect pension savers. They have looked at scams already (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmworpen/648/64802.htm) and are now, in their 2nd part of the inquiry, looking at the options open to […]
by Gareth Morgan on March 13, 2021
DWP responses to my suggestions for changing the assessment of earnings. It’s some time since I posted to this blog, not because nothing of interest, or worthy of comment, has been happening, but simply because, like many others, I have been busy. In that, I am lucky; far too many people have been without work, […]
by Gareth Morgan on October 19, 2020
Very pleased that the Work and Pensions Select Committee has recommended that the DWP assess my proposed model of assessment of Universal Credit, which could sort out irregular assessment of earnings and remove the need for a 5 week wait for the first payment. You can read the report at https://committees.parliament.uk/work/135/universal-credit-the-wait-for-a-first-payment/publications/ . It’s pretty wide […]
by Gareth Morgan on June 9, 2020
A brief update to my post on Surplus Earnings of May 24th. The team at legislation.gov.uk have corrected the current version of the Universal Credit regulations and pulled the incorrect consolidated versions , that they said had been provided by the DWP. I have put up a Youtube video trying to explain the serious flaws […]
by Gareth Morgan on May 24, 2020
Even by Universal Credit (UC) standards that might seem a little bit excessive, but it appears to be happening. It’s also a real, and urgent, problem for a rapidly increasing number of people. Once again, it illustrates how the complexity of rules within Universal Credit seems to work against the stated aim of simple, understandable […]
by Gareth Morgan on April 21, 2020
I’m not going to write much about what benefit changes have taken place recently, and there are lots of them, but a little bit about how they might affect people. This is because I’ve just finished the first baseline run of Ferret’s Future Benefits Model for 2020 to 2024. This is our big five-year rolling […]
by Gareth Morgan on March 24, 2020
(I’m posting this in the hope that it will generate some interest. I’d be grateful for comments, whether pointing out flaws or errors, or suggestions. Given the current situation, this could be implemented rapidly if workable. By all means, point and laugh but, please, do think about what could be done) I looked in […]
by Gareth Morgan on February 16, 2020
(Charts and tables amended 18/2/2020 to correct misalignment and 23/2/20 to simplify UC Calculation) The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has launched an enquiry into the economics of Universal Credit. It’s calling for written contributions to be submitted by February 29th. Whatever your views on the House of Lords as a second chamber, its […]
by Gareth Morgan on February 2, 2020
(With a lot of very, very boring but quite important numbers) This government loves sound bites and bullet points. They can look very impressive. UK minimum wage to rise by four times rate of inflation Employees over 25 will receive a 6.2% pay rise equating to £930 a year for full-time worker National Living Wage […]