Patrick Butler
@patrickjbutler
Social policy editor, The Guardian. Living in an old civilisation with a laptop.
ID: 98682244
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/patrickbutler 22-12-2009 17:37:24
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The Household Support Fund is running out (again), only this time it's Labour who will have to decide to save it. Great reporting from Patrick Butler theguardian.com/society/articl…
"Among the changes Reeves is believed to be considering are... Rejecting pressure to scrap the two-child benefit cap." Discuss. theguardian.com/business/artic…? Via Larry Elliott and Peter Walker
Pressure grows on Rachel Reeves to end two-child benefit cap in next budget theguardian.com/politics/artic… via Kiran Stacey
Millions of vulnerable people face a “cruel winter” due to a combination of rising energy costs and government cuts to welfare schemes, Labour MPs warn. The Guardian story by Kiran Stacey and me theguardian.com/money/article/…
My The Guardian story: From universal credit and the two-child limit to carer's allowance and the household support fund: a guide to the imminent big decisions Labour faces on welfare benefits theguardian.com/society/articl…
Government indicates it will extend £1bn local crisis support fund to help poorest households - but no details yet of how much by and for how long theguardian.com/politics/artic… via Jessica Elgot
Interesting Guardian letters: Gathering fairer ways to pay winter fuel allowance theguardian.com/politics/artic…
My The Guardian story: Pride in Britain’s history falls sharply over the past decade as the country becomes less nationalistic and jingoistic, British Social Attitudes survey finds. theguardian.com/society/articl…
My The Guardian story: UK’s poorest households face another winter of hardship, charities warn, as The Trussell Trust research shows two-thirds of working families on universal credit are struggling to afford food and energy theguardian.com/society/articl…
A government committed to long-term solutions backed by growth should be planning to fix our broken income safety net over time. My blog and report on this argue for inflation-plus upratings, rather than accepting today's dangerously low benefit levels financialfairness.org.uk/en-gb/what-we-…
Carer's Allowance Scandal latest: DWP apologises and waives £13,000 benefit debt after The Guardian highlights case of 86-year old woman with dementia hit by "catastrophic" overpayment demand theguardian.com/society/articl… via Josh Halliday
My The Guardian story: charity watchdog bans society fixer who acted as a middleman for more than £500,000 of donations to King Charles’s charities from a wealthy Russian banker theguardian.com/society/articl…
My The Guardian story: Consumer finance expert Martin Lewis accuses local authorities of acting like “the worst loan sharks” over aggressive pursuit of vulnerable residents who fall behind on council tax payments. theguardian.com/money/article/…
My The Guardian story: Social disadvantage now so entrenched in “left behind” areas that a young person growing up in poverty in London has a far better chance of succeeding than a similar child growing up poor in the north-east of England. theguardian.com/society/articl…
My The Guardian story: More than a million unpaid carers in the UK who look after disabled, frail or ill relatives are living in poverty, new research shows, as pressure mounts on ministers to overhaul carer benefits theguardian.com/society/2024/s…
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, a dogged campaigner on the DWP's treatment of chronically ill and disabled people, as well as issues around disability benefits, universal credit and sanctions, is the new chair of the Commons work and pensions select committee committees.parliament.uk/committee/164/…
My The Guardian story: Unpaid carer threatened with prosecution for fraud after inadvertently breaching career's allowance benefit earnings rules has a £1,300 penalty waived by DWP after the Guardian covered her case theguardian.com/society/2024/s…