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Where is the Levelling-up?

Unemployment for 18-24 year olds is still ‘double the national average’ in Oldham East and Saddleworth – where’s the levelling up? Data released by the House of Commons Library shows there were 810 people aged 18-24 claiming unemployment support in April 2022, across the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, that is 9.4% of the local […]

Human Rights Watchdog Slams DWP Treatment of Vulnerable Social Security Claimants

I welcome the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s announcement that they are issuing a section 23 notice against the Government’s Department for Work and Pensions. This follows the EHRC finding that the Government was breaching the 2010 Equality Act by discriminating against disabled social security claimants including those with mental health conditions and other long […]

More Support is Needed for Children Living in Poverty

I am calling on the government to provide access to social security support for parents with children who are legally settled in the UK after five years. Currently families with ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF) but who are entitled to settle in the UK are relying on charity to feed and house their children […]

The Government is Failing to Help Unemployed People

Data released by the House of Commons Library shows there were 845 people aged 18-24 claiming unemployment support in March 2022, across the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, 9.8% of the local population compared to the UK rate of 4.9%. Across all age groups there were 4,785 actual claimants across the constituency in March 2022, […]

Closing Oldham DWP Office Exposes Tory Levelling-up Rhetoric as Hollow

The Government’s announcement on 17th March 2022 that the DWP’s office at Phoenix House, Oldham will close and 168 staff will be ‘consolidated’ to Salford and Stockport offices by January 2023 expose the Tories’ rhetoric on levelling-up to be utterly hollow. The Minister’s admission that 1,300 DWP staff work at sites where there is no other […]

‘Unacceptable’ employment barriers faced by disabled people

I have joined cross party calls for the Government to set more meaning full targets for reducing the employment gap for disabled people, radically overhaul employment support, and address the lack of trust disabled people have in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). As a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee and […]

Unemployment for local young people remains at almost double the national average

Data released by the House of Commons Library shows there were 1200 people aged 18-24 claiming unemployment support in June 2021, across the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, 13.9% of the local population compared to the UK rate of 7.6%. Across all age groups there were 5905 actual claimants across the constituency in June 2021, […]

Universal credit: Covid responsible for over 50% of claimants

In a House of Commons speech, I revealed that over half of the 14,633 Universal Credit (UC) claimants in my constituency are on social security since the start of the pandemic. I then urged the Government to keep the £20 ‘uplift’ for people claiming Universal Credit. You can read my speech in full below: Universal […]

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