benefits | Novara Media

Hundreds of demonstrators, many disabled, gathered to protest against the government’s proposed cuts to the welfare spending bill which will see Personal Independence Payments (PIP) reduced for disabled benefit claimants, March 2025. Lab Ky Mo/SOPA Images/Reuters Connect

Opinion: The Welfare Bill Is a Patronising Moral Crusade to Save Disabled People From Ourselves

Rick Burgess

Despite concessions, the welfare bill still means cuts and greater state intrusion into disabled people’s lives, writes the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People’s Rick Burgess.

Feature: Labour Wants to Force Banks to Spy on Their Most Vulnerable Customers

Harriet Williamson

Labour’s ‘biggest fraud crackdown in a generation’ involves using artificial intelligence to surveil Britain’s most vulnerable people, while letting the rich and powerful do as they please.

Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a visit to the Manufacturing Futures Lab at UCL (University College London), in London, Britain January 13, 2025, as he prepares to launch a plan to harness AI to spur growth and efficiency in the country. HENRY NICHOLLS/Pool via REUTERS

Feature: How Labour Is Using Biased AI to Determine Benefit Claims

Harriet Williamson

Labour is creating a digitised welfare state where biased AI will gobble up data and wreck vulnerable people’s lives by judging them based on their age, marital status and nationality. Harriet Williamson reports.

A head shot of activist Ellen Clifford outside the royal courts of justice.

Feature: Meet the Disabled Activist Taking the UK Government to Court

Harriet Williamson

Ellen Clifford is fighting Keir Starmer's government in the high court to prevent disability benefit cuts. She speaks to Harriet Williamson about the value of disabled life under capitalism, assisted dying and why disabled people threaten the status quo.

A woman walks in high heels carrying a red box

Analysis: The Budget Is Socialism for the Rich, Austerity for the Poor

James Meadway

With her record-low corporation tax and below-inflation benefit rises, Labour’s first woman chancellor has indeed made history: by passing up a historic opportunity to fix Britain, writes James Meadway.

Opinion: The Tories Are Fast-Tracking Misery While They Still Can

Moya Lothian-McLean

Punitive, miserable policies are the death rattle of a government facing electoral armageddon, argues Moya Lothian-McLean.

tubs of formula milk with security tags on them

Feature: Parents Are Having to Steal Formula Milk. Make It Free Again

Sarah Woolley

National Milk fed 85% of British babies in 1974. As £19 formula pushes parents to desperation, why aren’t we bringing it back? Sarah Woolley reports.

05/05/2022. London, United Kingdom.The Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts the Prime Minister's Business Council with The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, The Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and The Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan. 10 Downing Street. Picture by Tim Hammond / No 10 Downing Street

Analysis: Wow! The Tories Are Planning to ‘Level Up’ Britain Again

James Morrison

Rishi Sunak’s overtures about ‘levelling up’ the ‘left behinds’ obscures who really needs help.

A Jobcentre during coronavirus. REUTERS/John Sibley

Report: The DWP Is ‘Unlawfully’ Chasing People to Pay Back Benefits Claimed in Lockdown

Sophie K Rosa

Claimants who relied on universal credit during the pandemic have had threatening letters and phone calls from private debt collectors following a Kafkaesque ID checking process.

Analysis: Right to Buy 2.0 is an Unmitigated Disaster

Ell Folan

Boris Johnson’s bright idea for winning back young voters is only going to deepen their misery, writes Ell Folan.

Opinion: We Cap Fuel Prices. Why Not Food?

Ella Thorold

Supermarket price-gouging is pushing millions of Britons toward starvation. The solution is simple, writes Ella Thorold.

Image of a green Job Centre Plus sign in England with white and yellow writing against a red brick wall.

Opinion: Why Suspicion of Benefits ‘Scroungers’ Could Be About to Reach New Heights

Jim Kaufman & Jamie Redman

As an economic crisis and labour shortage bite, Jamie Redman and Jim Kaufman outline how the UK benefits system is getting more punitive by the day.

Opinion: Britain’s Inhumane Benefits System Is Giving People PTSD

Jay Watts

The psychological violence of welfare applications is destroying our mental health - and an increasingly two-tier benefits system won’t help, writes clinical psychologist Jay Watts.

Downstream: The Capitalist War Being Waged on Disabled People

Ellen Clifford speaks to Michael Walker about her book “The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of Human Catastrophe”, including an explanation of the Social Model of Disability, the history of the Disabled People’s Movement, and the disastrous consequences of austerity policies.

An image of Boris Johnson dressed as a clown graffitied onto a brick wall

Opinion: This Isn’t Just About Universal Credit – Our Entire Benefits System Is a Joke

Andrew Fisher

While the campaign to cancel the £20 cut to Universal Credit is welcome, we risk atomising our struggle against a broken system, argues Andrew Fisher.

Report: Jobcentre Staff Were Taught to Inflict ‘Psychological Harm’ on the Unemployed

Sophie K Rosa

A new report reveals how the coalition government pressured jobcentre staff to bully the unemployed out of claiming benefits. Sophie K Rosa reports.

Analysis: No, Benefit Claimants Still Aren’t Exploiting the System

Josh Gabert-Doyon

The digitisation of Universal Credit is reinforcing old prejudices about benefit fraud, fuelling a new moral panic. Josh Gabert Doyon explains what's actually going on.

Opinion: Experts by Experience: Benefit Claimants Should Design Our Social Security System

Ellen Clifford

People who have become experts on the benefits system by navigating it themselves are designing an alternative to the harmful and counterproductive model the government has created. Ellen Clifford explains.

Tag: benefits

Opinion: The Welfare Bill Is a Patronising Moral Crusade to Save Disabled People From Ourselves

Rick Burgess

Feature: Labour Wants to Force Banks to Spy on Their Most Vulnerable Customers

Harriet Williamson

Feature: How Labour Is Using Biased AI to Determine Benefit Claims

Harriet Williamson

Analysis: The Budget Is Socialism for the Rich, Austerity for the Poor

James Meadway

Opinion: The Tories Are Fast-Tracking Misery While They Still Can

Moya Lothian-McLean

Feature: Parents Are Having to Steal Formula Milk. Make It Free Again

Sarah Woolley

Analysis: Wow! The Tories Are Planning to ‘Level Up’ Britain Again

James Morrison

Report: The DWP Is ‘Unlawfully’ Chasing People to Pay Back Benefits Claimed in Lockdown

Sophie K Rosa

Analysis: Right to Buy 2.0 is an Unmitigated Disaster

Ell Folan

Opinion: We Cap Fuel Prices. Why Not Food?

Ella Thorold

Opinion: Why Suspicion of Benefits ‘Scroungers’ Could Be About to Reach New Heights

Jim Kaufman & Jamie Redman

Opinion: Britain’s Inhumane Benefits System Is Giving People PTSD

Jay Watts

Report: Jobcentre Staff Were Taught to Inflict ‘Psychological Harm’ on the Unemployed

Sophie K Rosa

Analysis: No, Benefit Claimants Still Aren’t Exploiting the System

Josh Gabert-Doyon

Build
people-
powered
media.

Build people-powered media.

Tag: benefits

Opinion: The Welfare Bill Is a Patronising Moral Crusade to Save Disabled People From Ourselves

Rick Burgess

Feature: Labour Wants to Force Banks to Spy on Their Most Vulnerable Customers

Harriet Williamson

Feature: How Labour Is Using Biased AI to Determine Benefit Claims

Harriet Williamson

Feature: Meet the Disabled Activist Taking the UK Government to Court

Harriet Williamson

Analysis: The Budget Is Socialism for the Rich, Austerity for the Poor

James Meadway

Opinion: The Tories Are Fast-Tracking Misery While They Still Can

Moya Lothian-McLean

Feature: Parents Are Having to Steal Formula Milk. Make It Free Again

Sarah Woolley

Analysis: Wow! The Tories Are Planning to ‘Level Up’ Britain Again

James Morrison

Report: The DWP Is ‘Unlawfully’ Chasing People to Pay Back Benefits Claimed in Lockdown

Sophie K Rosa

Analysis: Right to Buy 2.0 is an Unmitigated Disaster

Ell Folan

Opinion: We Cap Fuel Prices. Why Not Food?

Ella Thorold

Opinion: Why Suspicion of Benefits ‘Scroungers’ Could Be About to Reach New Heights

Jim Kaufman & Jamie Redman

Opinion: Britain’s Inhumane Benefits System Is Giving People PTSD

Jay Watts

Downstream: The Capitalist War Being Waged on Disabled People

Opinion: This Isn’t Just About Universal Credit – Our Entire Benefits System Is a Joke

Andrew Fisher

Report: Jobcentre Staff Were Taught to Inflict ‘Psychological Harm’ on the Unemployed

Sophie K Rosa

Analysis: No, Benefit Claimants Still Aren’t Exploiting the System

Josh Gabert-Doyon

Opinion: Experts by Experience: Benefit Claimants Should Design Our Social Security System

Ellen Clifford

Build people- powered media.

Build people-powered media.

Build
people-
powered
media.