Trouble on the way.
Conrado via Shutterstock
By limiting financial support to smaller families, the government is doing its best to stop undesirables from reproducing.
Who is paying the most?
Tax burden via Orla/www.shutterstock.com
In his budget, George Osborne said that we are all in this together. A look at the evidence shows that we’re not.
No wonder the Tories can’t look poor people in the eye.
EPA/Andy Rain
After months of speculation, we now know how the Chancellor plans to save £12bn from the welfare budget.
Fully stocked – for now.
Danny Lawson/PA Wire
The government’s austerity programme hasn’t just put the poor under terrible pressure – it’s actually breached Britain’s international legal obligations.
There when you need it most. But safety nets are under threat.
Mark Setchell
When welfare budgets get cut, layers of help and guidance are slowly stripped away from the most vulnerable.
Budget day: why wait a year for the next one?
EPA
David Cameron has tried to claim the clothes of social justice for the Conservatives. It’s time he took them off.
Not faring so well.
S-F/from www.shutterstock.com
Here’s how well do the Eurozone countries look after their citizens.
The government wants to change the way it measures child poverty.
Sad child via lulu2626/www.shutterstock.com
With 17% of children living in poverty in the UK, the government wants to change the way it’s defined.
The world is your oyster — you’ll need to top it up yourself.
PA/Peter Byrne
PM tells local school the future is bright. Probably best not to focus on the past five years.
Both Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey have defended the budget savings as ‘fair’.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
If the government had provided analysis on how the budget impacts households it may not have found itself defending its record on fairness.
Millions of calls to Centrelink went unanswered as Australians waited a collective total of 811 years in 2013-14.
Shutterstock/Sarah Jane Taylor
Centrelink’s failure to answer calls is a sign of a deeper problem: a lack of respect from government services for vulnerable citizens.
Since the NT Intervention a large body of evidence has built up showing that income management does not achieve its stated goals. So why does it continue?
AAP/Dean Lewins
Various studies, culminating in the final evaluation report of income management in the Northern Territory, have found such programs don’t achieve the claimed benefits. Why did the budget extend them?
Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm has called for a reduction in government spending.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm has said that probably half to two-thirds of the Australian population is receiving some form of government benefit. Is that right?
Fare thee well.
Danny Lawson/PA
Welfare policy was a political hot potato in the referendum campaign, and it’s a big weapon for the SNP in 2015 too.
No laughing matter. Workers with benefits.
Gordon McKinlay
The problems with benefits lie outside the system, while more and more of us are being dragged into its orbit.
The good life?
Andy Rain/EPA
Our experts analyse the evidence on the Conservatives’ big ticket policies.
Welfare cuts should serve to increase employment, but
Jonathan Brady/PA Wire
Research indicates that Conservative proposals will increase incentives for the unemployed to return to work, but it won’t reduce poverty.
Why don’t they trust me?
Jonathan Brady/PA
Both major parties have tried to address their key weaknesses head on – but it’s too late to change voters’ perceptions.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison has said eight out of 10 income taxpayers go to work to fund Australia’s welfare bill.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Implying that 80% of Australian income tax goes straight towards the welfare bill overlooks the fact that a large proportion of income taxpayers benefit from social security.
Are we really?
David Levene/Rota
Five years of Coalition government later, it is clear that the poorest have paid most dearly as a result of various tax and benefit changes.