Esther McVey, and then Amber Rudd (after resigning as Home Secretary), became Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, visited the UK and published his preliminary findings.
The Windrush scandal began – people wrongly detained, deported, and/or denied legal rights in the UK by the Home Office.
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that on average people’s real annual wages were £800 lower in 2018 than they had been in 2008. People in their 20s and 30s were particularly affected, whereas pensioners were the least affected.
Welfare spending had fallen by almost 25% in the last ten years, according to figures obtained by MP Frank Field.
Universal Credit continued to be rolled out nationally, albeit with ongoing delays.
Free school meals continued to be means tested, after changes to Universal Credit, as with the previous benefit system around only one in three children in poverty were eligible for a free school meal.
A National Audit Office report on Universal Credit found that:
– Whilst the government claims that Universal Credit will give a return of £34 billion over 10 years, the National Audit Office has argued that the system could cost more to administer than the previous benefits system.
– After 8 years of working on Universal Credit, only 10% of expected claimants are on the system.
– Implementation of Universal Credit must continue because of the number of changes already made in Job Centres.
– “the Department for Work and Pensions does not accept that UC has caused hardship among claimants”.
– The Department for Work and Pensions claims that 83% of claimants are satisfied with the service provided.