Welfare Policy Resources

Social welfare is of high importance to many voluntary and community organisations in Glasgow. We will update this page regularly with emerging policy  and trends in the field of welfare. 

Welfare Reform Act 2010-12
The Bill provides for the introduction of a 'Universal Credit' to replace a range of existing means-tested benefits and tax credits for people of working age, starting from 2013. The Bill follows the November 2010 White Paper, 'Universal Credit: welfare that works', which set out the Coalition Government’s proposals for reforming welfare to improve work incentives, simplify the benefits system and tackle administrative complexity.

Welfare Reform Act 2009
This act heralded wide-ranging reforms to the benefits system in Britain. It consists of five parts: social security; disabled people: right to control provision of services; child maintenance; birth registration; miscellaneous and supplementary.

Policies include the abolition of Income Support, mandatory welfare to work schemes and changes to qualifying conditions for contributions based JSA. The Act also contains provisions that allow disabled people the right of control over the provision of services.

Budget 2010 Changes to Benefits and Tax Credits
The Emergency Budget of June 2010 the government announced measures to cut Britain's welfare bill, including reductions to housing benefit and changes to the tax credit system.

'No One Written Off' Consultation History
The Green Paper, 'No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility, was a wide ranging consultation on the future of welfare.

Social Exclusion Task Force
The role of this Task Force is to coordinate the Government's drive against social exclusion, ensuring that the cross-departmental approach delivers for those most in need. The Task Force champions the needs of the most disadvantaged members of society within Government, ensuring that, as with the rest of the public service reform agenda, people are put first.

Information on a range of welfare rights issues.

Unfit for Purpose
On 26th May 2010 Citizens Advice Scotland published "Unfit for Purpose" detailing the serious failings of the way people are assessed when claiming Employment and Support Allowance. Many have been declared fit for work despite having serious long term health conditions and in some cases, terminal illness.

21st Century Welfare
Published on 30 July 2010, this paper outlines plans for radical welfare reform, aimed at simplifying the benefits system and encouraging people back to work. A summary of the paper, as well as other formats, can be found here.