Research Briefing
This note provides background information on the Bill’s provisions and summarises the content of the Bill. The Bill's Committee Stage was adjourned on 29 October 2014 as a money resolution must be passed in order for it to progress any further.
Research Briefing
State pension, benefit and tax credit increases in April 2015 - what the rates are and how are they are calculated.
Research Briefing
The Government has announced that over 24 million people will soon start receiving their first personalised Annual Tax Summary from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which will provide a breakdown of how each person’s annual direct tax bill (income tax and NI contributions) is spent. The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne described the measure
Research Briefing
In the Scottish Independence Referendum held on the 18th September 2014, the proposition ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ was rejected by a margin of 10.6 percentage points. The turnout at the referendum was 84.6% including rejected papers (84.5% based on valid votes). This is the highest turnout at a nationwide referendum or parliamentary election in Scotland since the franchise was extended to women in 1918.
Research Briefing
Research Paper for Second Reading of Pension Schemes Bill 2014/15
Research Briefing
The United Kingdom Statistics Authority (UKSA) has announced that it has removed the National Statistics designation from the police recorded crime series. The police recorded crime series is published by ONS based on Home Office figures collected from individual police forces in England and Wales. UKSA, the independent statistical watchdog responsible for ensuring the integrity
Research Briefing
Information on the current system of bereavement benefits (Bereavement Payment, Bereavement Allowance and Widowed Parent’s Allowance) and on the Government's proposals for a new Bereavement Support Payment.
Research Briefing
This paper has been prepared for Second Reading of the Pensions Bill on 17 June 2013
Research Briefing
On 12 February 2013 the Court of Appeal ruled that regulations underpinning some of the Government’s back to work schemes were unlawful and must be quashed. The Bill - which has retrospective effect - would remove the ability for individuals sanctioned for not participating in one of the schemes to challenge the sanction decision on the grounds that the regulations were invalid, or notices given to them were inadequate.
Research Briefing
Starting in selected “Pathfinder” areas from April 2013, Universal Credit (UC) will begin to replace a range of means-tested benefits and tax credits for working age families. The Draft Universal Credit Regulations set out the detailed rules for the new benefit.
Research Briefing
Social security legislation requires the Secretary of State to review benefit levels each year to determine whether they have retained their value relative to prices. For most benefits annual uprating is not mandatory, but historically governments have exercised their discretion by increasing the principal means-tested working-age benefits each April in line with prices. In his 2012 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that increases in most working-age benefits would be limited to 1% a year for three years from 2013-14, as part of a package to deliver additional welfare savings of £3.7 billion a year by 2015-16. The Bill amends primary legislation to enable the decisions on uprating in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to be implemented.
Research Briefing
The Public Service Pensions Bill would establish a framework enabling the Government to introduce new public service pension schemes.
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