universal credit | Novara Media

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 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.

A woman with long curly black hair and a black covid mask holds up a homemade cardboard sign on which is written in pale blue writing: "NHS hero but my purse says zero"

Analysis: No, Higher Wages Won’t Fix the Cost of Living Crisis

Matteo Tiratelli

Sexy as degrowth may be on the left, it’s productivity gains that have driven rising living standards over the past half-century, writes Matteo Tiratelli.

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.

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: Austerity May Be Over, but the Tories Still Aren’t Spending Enough

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.

Opinion: Labour’s Universal Credit Revamp Is a Step Backwards, Not Forwards

Instead of fiddling with the technical details of the current universal credit system, the Labour party must embrace the opportunity to set out a new vision for a genuinely progressive welfare settlement.

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.

Opinion: Universal Credit Is a Symptom of Britain’s Broken Jobs Market

Andrew Fisher

Boris Johnson seems to think that cutting the £20 uplift to universal credit will enable him to create high-paid jobs, writes Andrew Fisher. He's living, as Adam Curtis would say, in a dream world.

Rishi Sunak standing on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street with his red box

Opinion: Now Isn’t the Time for a General Tax Hike – We Need to Target Those Who’ve Profited From the Pandemic

Ann Pettifor

The left must be wary of flatly equating tax increases with post-pandemic recovery. In today’s budget, Rishi Sunak should go after the few whose wealth has increased over the past year, argues economist Ann Pettifor.

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: Sunak’s Spending Review Is a Drop of Water in a Desert – the Left Must Demand More

James Meadway

From divide-and-rule public sector pay freezes to ripe-for-corruption local spending schemes, Sunak's plan is radically insufficient for our current crisis. The left must forward an alternative, and quick, writes James Meadway.

Report: The Tories’ Furlough Delay Has Led to Thousands of Needless Redundancies

Francesca Newton

As a result of the government's repeated and false insistence that there would be no extension to furlough, thousands of people across the UK have lost their jobs unnecessarily. Francesca Newton reports.

Opinion: Coronavirus Has Had a Devastating Impact on Mental Health, but It Didn’t Have to Be This Way

Harriet Williamson

Coronavirus was always going to be difficult for people with mental health conditions, but political decisions rooted in Tory ideology have made things much worse, writes Harriet Williamson.

Tag: universal credit

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

Harriet Williamson

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

Jim Kaufman & Jamie Redman

Opinion: Austerity May Be Over, but the Tories Still Aren’t Spending Enough

James Meadway

Novara Live: Tories Suffer Backlash Over Chaos and Cuts

Novara Live: Johnson’s Nasty Cut Trashes Promise to “Level Up”

Opinion: Labour’s Universal Credit Revamp Is a Step Backwards, Not Forwards

Will Stronge

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

Sophie K Rosa

Opinion: Now Isn’t the Time for a General Tax Hike – We Need to Target Those Who’ve Profited From the Pandemic

Ann Pettifor

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

Josh Gabert-Doyon

Opinion: Sunak’s Spending Review Is a Drop of Water in a Desert – the Left Must Demand More

James Meadway

Report: The Tories’ Furlough Delay Has Led to Thousands of Needless Redundancies

Francesca Newton

Opinion: Coronavirus Has Had a Devastating Impact on Mental Health, but It Didn’t Have to Be This Way

Harriet Williamson

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Tag: universal credit

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

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

Sophie K Rosa

Analysis: No, Higher Wages Won’t Fix the Cost of Living Crisis

Matteo Tiratelli

Analysis: Right to Buy 2.0 is an Unmitigated Disaster

Ell Folan

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

Jim Kaufman & Jamie Redman

Opinion: Austerity May Be Over, but the Tories Still Aren’t Spending Enough

James Meadway

Novara Live: Tories Suffer Backlash Over Chaos and Cuts

Novara Live: Johnson’s Nasty Cut Trashes Promise to “Level Up”

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

Andrew Fisher

Opinion: Labour’s Universal Credit Revamp Is a Step Backwards, Not Forwards

Will Stronge

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

Sophie K Rosa

Opinion: Universal Credit Is a Symptom of Britain’s Broken Jobs Market

Andrew Fisher

Opinion: Now Isn’t the Time for a General Tax Hike – We Need to Target Those Who’ve Profited From the Pandemic

Ann Pettifor

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

Josh Gabert-Doyon

Opinion: Sunak’s Spending Review Is a Drop of Water in a Desert – the Left Must Demand More

James Meadway

Report: The Tories’ Furlough Delay Has Led to Thousands of Needless Redundancies

Francesca Newton

Opinion: Coronavirus Has Had a Devastating Impact on Mental Health, but It Didn’t Have to Be This Way

Harriet Williamson

Build people- powered media.

Build people-powered media.

Build
people-
powered
media.