News

The Demos team and its work features regularly in the press on the key issues of the day. Read our statements and articles by our team here.

The return of the social

In the public outpouring of (genuine) grief upon the loss of David Bowie yesterday, you could be excused for missing an interesting intervention by another David, the Prime Minister, heralding what appeared to be the return of the ‘social strategy’....

A New Vision for Welfare-to-Work

While public debate is focused on cuts to tax credits, and whether their staged introduction and move to National Living Wage will soften the blow for the working poor, a more interesting and nuanced reform is underway. In August, Ian...

Fit for Purpose

The key focus of Iain Duncan Smith’s speech yesterday addressed sickness benefits, and how Government judges if people are fit for work. There is scope for real reform here. IDS diagnosed the problem as people receiving ‘an assessment of their condition that...

Demos Responds to the Summer Budget

The Chancellor’s Summer Budget was billed as bold and delivered on the promise. It marks a clear break with the Coalition and New Labour before it. The Living Wage will dominate the headlines. It is designed as a companion to...

The Opportunities of Change

The new Government has wasted little time in making it clear that welfare policy will be high on the agenda for 2015, with David Cameron’s speech on Monday pinning system reform to the heart of his ‘One Nation’ agenda. But...

Fair Accounting

It’s fair to say there’s been little love lost between the Coalition Government and disabled people as a group – and justifiably so; Demos and Scope charted the impact of welfare reform on disabled people for the first two years of the...

Evidence-based campaigning

On a day when the Work and Pensions select committee confirms the Universal Credit IT system is becoming a white elephant and the JRF calculates how little the Bedroom Tax has saved once you account for additional costs, it’s tempting to dismiss the current...

Should welfare be a ‘moral mission’?

I was asked today to comment on the unfolding dispute between the Archbishop of Westminster and David Cameron regarding the ‘morality’ of welfare reform. The Archbishop made the point that while the case for reforming welfare was sound, the way it...

#BenefitsStreet

I’ve rarely seen a programme talked about as much as Channel 4’s documentary Benefits Street. The kitchen sink drama has been hailed as a gritty real life account of life on welfare; bemoaned as ‘poverty porn’ that demeans and stereotypes poor...