review

New 'independent' reviewer for benefit sanctions announced

Fri, 20/09/2013 - 11:29 -- nick

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced a new independent reviewer of benefit sanctions.

Matthew Oakley, the head of economics and social policy at thinktank Policy Exchange, will lead the review.

The post was required by the Jobseeker’s (Back to Work Schemes) Act 2013, and will look at the clarity of information given to Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants on the consequences of failing to take part in mandatory back to work schemes, and on how to navigate the appeals system.

Tags: 
Unemployment
unemployed
benefits
sanctions
Welfare
review

Review – Panorama – Trouble on the Estate

Wed, 12/09/2012 - 19:08 -- nick
Conditions on the Shadsworth Estate, on the outskirts of Blackburn, are far from ideal. According to Trouble on the Estate, Panorama’s hour-long special, it is a hotbed of drugs, anti-social behaviour, bad parenting, violence, and unemployment. 2,000 people live there, but the programme focused on just a few families. The filmmaker, Richard Bilton, spent months filming among them, to gather what he believed was an accurate account of life on a British housing estate.
Tags: 
review
Panorama
benefits
Unemployment

Review – Saints and Scroungers

Mon, 03/09/2012 - 13:35 -- nick

Saints and Scroungers is the BBC’s daytime programme dealing with benefit recipients. As the title suggests, it divides human interest stories in to ‘saints’ – those who have received benefits in conditions of real hardship, and used the money wisely and well, and ‘scroungers’, those who have falsely claimed benefits.

Tags: 
review
BBC
television

Review – Dispatches ‘Tricks of the Dole Cheats’

Tue, 14/08/2012 - 20:43 -- nick

Channel 4 last night broadcast a documentary in its Dispatches strand which, despite its ostensibly pro-jobseeker slant, should offend every unemployed person in Britain, as well as fans of objectivity and worthwhile investigation. ‘Tricks of the Dole Cheats’ was notable for portraying neither tricks nor cheats.

Tags: 
Dispatches
review
dole
cheats
Channel 4

Translate

Subscribe to review