At the TPA, we very much appreciate the hard work that Iain Duncan Smith and the rest of the DWP team are doing to try and reform welfare. It was extremely encouraging to see the 21st Century Welfare report endorse...

The UK work and pensions secretary says that the government will look at whether it needs to pay more upfront to private providers of a flagship welfare-to-work programme

Amongst the reaction to yesterday's welfare reform paper, there was little discussion about quite how badly Conservative Shadow Work & Pensions Minister Chris Grayling did. His Commons performance was dire - implying that people on welfare in Glasgow can't be bothered to work by stating that he wouldn't have wanted to release this report while fighting a by-election in an area of high welfare depe...

by Dale Bassett Today the Commons will debate James Purnell’s much-discussed Welfare Reform Bill. When the DWP published its green paper last month it was lauded by many (myself included) as a rare show of reforming zeal from the Government....

A £1.2bn flagship private sector welfare-to-work programme will fail unless the government changes the way it pays for the deal, potential suppliers warned

Following on from the SSAC wanting your views on Purnell’s latest punitive benefit sanctions proposals, the DWP want to hear your views on the Green Paper, No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility. The consultation period runs until the 22nd october 2008. The following link includes details of where to write along with further

Laurie Penny is keeping up her attack on James Purnell’s Welfare Reform Bill, and in particular the plan to get single mothers back into work.She has a point. If we look at the DWP’s own figures (big pdf), the returns...

Future Conservative government would alter Treasury regulations to support private providers tackling unemployment A future Conservative government would change Treasury rules to allow it to support private providers trying to get the long-term unemployed back to work, the party's welfare spokesman said today. In her first speech since becoming shadow work and pensions secretary, Theresa May ...

The Conservatives could guarantee loans to private and voluntary groups to help them fund welfare to work programs.

Blame the unemployed for unemployment. This is the basic principle behind New Labour’s proposal to reform the welfare benefits. If they had their way, New Labour will preside over the dismantling of the welfare state. Towards the middle of last year, the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) published its welfare reform green paper, "no One Written Off", which is based on a report by banker...