Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2006): Social Security - UK

R. Orr

Financial Times, March 13th 2006, p.2

A fiscal study, whose claims are refuted by the government, concludes that thousands of cohabiting parents are claiming lone-parent-benefits. Questions are raised about the efficiency of the tax credit system. This report suggests possible reasons for problems ranging from semantics to fraud.

R. Bennett

Times, March 10th 2006, p.18

Overpayments of means-tested pension credits and income support to thousands of pensioners may not need to be paid back if this would cause hardship or if official error can be proved as the cause. The errors, attracting criticism of incompetence, have been attributed to a transition period when staff were training.

[See also Daily Telegraph, March 10th 2006, p.1]

N. Timmins

Financial Times, March 13th 2006, p. 2

Research has shown that the weekly income of the majority of families in a sample reflecting the range of tax credit recipients swings by over 10 per cent from their annual average. The swings are much more violent than previously thought, suggesting a possible reason for the tax credit policy’s underperformance in helping the less well off.