Society daily: Increased sentences for benefit fraud

We've changed email address. Please add us to your safe sender list. Having trouble viewing this email? Society daily 16.09.13 Increased sentences for benefit fraud Clare Horton theguardian.com, Monday 16 September 2013 07.27 EDT Keir Starmer: 'we all pay the price' for benefit fraud. Photograph: Chris Helgren/Reuters Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Benefit fraudsters face increased sentences of up to 10 years in jail • Plaid Cymru: GPs' use of premium-rate numbers 'hugely disappointing' • 'Miracle-cure' claims examined in Sense About Science's guide for patients • Investigated Serco and G4S can bid for new contracts, says Chris Grayling • Scottish Power should not sponsor fuel poverty conference, say campaigners • Police launch investigation into claims of sexual abuse at immigration centre All today's SocietyGuardian stories The pick of the weekend's SocietyGuardian news and comment • Ben Gunn: murder, love and life after prison • David Cameron's bid to curb 'benefit tourism' meets setback • Hospital unable to admit even casualty patients for two days • Benefits errors result in wrongly paid £360m written off All Sunday's SocietyGuardian news and comment All Saturday's SocietyGuardian news and comment Jobs of the week • Executive director, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders: "You will be a strong leader with experience of directing and managing organisations, with the ability to generate high performance in others." • Deputy director of operations, Institute of Cancer Research • Independent chair, Portsmouth safeguarding children board • Commissioning Officer, children and early years, Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs On the Guardian Professional Networks • Older gay people still experience prejudice from care staff. Hazel Davis reports • Idealism can be the enemy of culture change in the NHS, warns Dean Royles, chief executive of NHS Employers • Larger right-to-buy discounts risk depleting council housing stock • Union calls for science minister role to help women into industry On my radar ... • The Liberal Democrat party conference, which has opened in Glasgow. Today's agenda includes a speech by Vince Cable, a Q&A with party leader Nick Clegg and policy papers on fairer taxes and housing benefit; Andrew Sparrow will be following all the day's news on the politics live blog. The Guardian is hosting a series of fringe events at the Lib Dem, Labour and Conservative party conferences this autumn. Topics being discussed this week include the future of apprenticeships, tackling anti-social behaviour, helping disadvantaged groups to find work and the future of Royal Mail. • Atos, the firm that conducts assessments of benefit claimants, which has hired a PR firm "to emphasise other strengths of the business". PRWeek reports that "the work will involve showing that the company is far broader than the contract it has with the Department for Work and Pensions to oversee the controversial Work Capability Assessment amid benefits wider reforms". (link via David Walker) • The bedroom tax. The Yorkshire Post reports on a warning by Hull city council that families affected by the bedroom tax and other welfare reforms may have to wait more than 10 years for a suitable home. The council also says it faces a potential shortfall in rent payments of £2.8m a year. The council's deputy leader, Daren Hale, said cuts to local authority funding coupled with the impact of welfare reform left the city facing a "double whammy". He told the Yorkshire Post: ... it's a case of trying to support people in need as they experience cuts to their benefits. We are then left with the unpleasant situation of having to collect that money (rent and council tax), because if we don't it leaves a shortfall in service areas, whether housing repairs, or services getting reduced further. It puts us in the position of being the bad guys when really these are Government-enforced. (thanks to the Same Difference blog for sharing the link) Other news • BBC: Cable vows action on 'zero hours' • CivilSociety.co.uk: Commission calls for powers to ban people from becoming trustees • Independent: Public 'unaware' of care-home costs - and of probability they will need care themselves • Inside Housing: Housing association threatens legal action over tenants benefit cuts • Telegraph: NHS 'covered up' £4m of gag orders • Third Sector: Charity Commission publishes new public benefit guidance SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on social media Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Follow Clare Horton on Twitter Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter SocietyGuardian's Facebook page SocietyGuardian links SocietyGuardian.co.uk The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin Email the SocietyGuardian editor: society@guardian.co.uk You are receiving this email because you are a Society Daily subscriber. 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