Branding young unemployed people as feckless welfare scroungers is both inaccurate and counterproductive, says ERNIE JACQUES. This simplistic perspective reframes a complex macroeconomic challenge as an individual failing. ‘Tackling the NEETs crisis will require long-term, specific and systemic change.’...
Andy Burnham’s big task of bringing down the benefits bill is about much more than money, says MARY HULL. It’s about the kind of society we want to be. ...
After a week of parliamentary rebellion and government chaos, ERNIE JACQUES assesses the outcome and impact of Labour’s ‘crazy’ welfare proposals....
Unite Community has been at the heart of campaigns against Tory cuts to Universal Credit. HEATHER BLAKEY and GERRY LAVERY report on the ongoing battle for a new ‘common sense’....
In an extensive discussion paper, Unite Community member GERRY LAVERY considers how Antonio Gramsci’s ideas could help challenge popular attitudes towards benefit claimants and the fight to end government sanctions. Here, he provides a brief introduction....
A universal basic income could be one of the big progressive policies at the next election according to campaign group Compass which has published a report on the issue, saying it’s “an idea whose time has come”....
ERNIE JACQUES looks at the implications of a recent appeal court ruling on the case of two jobseekers denied benefits for refusing unpaid work....