Universal Credit: winners and losers

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Iain Duncan Smith has found an extra £300m for childcare in his Universal Credit, but women who want to work longer hours will lose out. The result is only going to make households worse offEarlier this month, the government announced the level of support that would be available for childcare under Universal Credit when it … Continued

Willetts plays snakes and ladders

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Social mobility has become something of a hot topic for the coalition. February’s Social Mobility White Paper made it the government’s number one social policy goal. Yet arguments over tuition fees have rather drowned out much of what they have to say on the topic, particularly when it comes to education and skills. So it … Continued

‘Generation rent’ needs a helping hand

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Without a clear signal from government of its commitment to  build-to-let development, we are unlikely to see  investment take off in a new type of private rented sector Yesterday’s report from the National Housing Federation predicted that by 2021 home ownership in Britain will have fallen to its lowest levels since the mid 1980s. 64 per … Continued

Making a Rented House a Home

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Published today, the Resolution Foundation’s Making a Rented House a Home outlines the shocking fact that the average low to middle income household buying a home today would have taken 31 years to save for a deposit , compared to 8 years in 1983. Last week a report by the estate agents, Savills, revealed that for the … Continued

The long-term problem for “generation rent”

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We need to stop relying on home-ownership as the only way to build wealth if we’re to have an adequate social care system.It’s been a bad few weeks for social care. First the faltering of Southern Cross, then Panorama’s revelations about abuse at residential homes. Now, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission reveals shocking levels … Continued

On housing, while Ed has got it wrong, Boris has the answer

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In his speech on social responsibility today, Ed Miliband argued that low income working people and those doing voluntary work should be given priority for council housing.While this might help position his leadership, it is misguided as a piece of housing policy. Shifting ordinary working families into social housing to replace more vulnerable groups does not fix a housing … Continued

Wake-up call on childcare

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Speaking at the Liberal Democrat’s Spring Conference, Nick Clegg once again took up the cause of hard working families in Britain – his ‘alarm clock Britain’, the people who want to get up and get on. But changes to the childcare tax credit announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review and due to come in this … Continued

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