Author: alanmarkey

By Posted on Posted in Campaigns, Universal Credit

NAWRA member, Richard Machin from Staffordshire University, has written an excellent piece for online journal ‘The Conversation’ entitled “A welfare adviser’s view on Universal Credit: a flawed system that emphasises process over people.” Richard highlights myriad problems with the rollout of Universal Credit and highlights NAWRAs position on implict consent.  Richard concludes his article by saying: Benefit advisers have long called for changes to the benefit system to make it easier to understand and access for claimants. The whole point of …

Universal Credit: A flawed system Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Campaigns

NAWRA is proud to support Challenge Poverty Week in Scotland. The main aims of the week, which runs from 15-21 October 2017, are to: Highlight the reality of poverty and challenge the stereotypes that about exist about it; Demonstrate what is being done across Scotland to address poverty Increase public support for more action to solve poverty You can find out more by visiting the Poverty Alliance.

By Posted on Posted in Members

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of long time NAWRA member, Jane Emerson. Jane, who was just 56 years old, was a dedicated welfare rights worker who fought tirelessly for her clients and for wider rights issues, particularly around disability.  She was a regular attendee at our conferences and will be greatly missed by all of us at NAWRA. A tribute to Jane has also been published by Socialist Worker.

By Posted on Posted in Basic Income

UBIE event 24th–26th March 2017, London Here, our North Wales committee representative, Eri Mountbatten, provides a summary of the Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE) weekend held in London on 24th – 26th March 2017.   Eri asks, is Universal Basic Income (UBI) a utopian exercise in socialist Sympatico, or can it bring real and meaningful alternatives to the current debates on social security and social justice in the UK? The Europeans are coming!.. I am not talking about another wave of …

Fish, chips and mushy politics!? Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Campaigns, ESA, Press release, Welfare Reform

We have written to Damian Green MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to raise concerns about what we see as the DWPs failure to follow correct legal procedures on conversion of incapacity benefit claimants to employment and support allowance.  The full text of our letter is reproduced below. “Our members have identified many former Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance claimants who have been migrated to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and only been awarded contributory ESA as the Department …

IB and ESA conversion – letter to Damian Green, MP Read more »