Insights archive
From firefighting to reform Revenues and benefits at the edge of another year of change At the final Independent R&B Monday Discussion Group before the summer break, practitioners reflected on tight budgets, difficult system…
Read articleThe latest Monday Discussion Group opened with Malcolm Gardner posing a stark question: is the temporary accommodation crisis mainly a housing supply problem or a financial systems problem? The answer from the panel was…
Read articleRecurring digital payments have quietly become a fixed feature of household finances across the UK, Europe and the United States. For revenues and benefits services, understanding their scale, their cross-national consistency — and their…
Read articleThe Independent Revenues and Benefits Monday Discussion Group on 30 March ranged across three familiar but connected themes: supported housing, local government reorganisation and the latest poverty figures. What tied the conversation together was…
Read articleMeeting note for 9 February 2026 The slide pack is too large to send by email this week. Please download it from is page, alongside the recording and other related reports. The pack is…
Read article19 January 2026 (12:02pm) The group marked “Blue Monday” with a mixture of humour and hard reality: policy change arriving at speed, year-end pressures stacking up, and councils trying to keep services stable while…
Read articleAt the latest Independent R&B Monday Discussion Group, chaired by Malcolm Gardner, members took a deep dive into the stubborn issue of unclaimed benefits, the challenges of Universal Credit, and the shifting dynamics of…
Read articleThe Independent Revenues & Benefits Monday Discussion Group was back on 8 September, with Malcolm Gardner welcoming everyone after the summer break. Smiles all round, though the mood paused for a moment as Malcolm…
Read article1 September 2025 We’re on our summer pause, so instead of a live session this week we’ve shared the second mid-break slide pack. It’s a chance to catch up on what’s happening across revenues…
Read articleRevenues and Benefits Discussion Group 7 July 2024 At the latest meeting of the Independent Revenues & Benefits (R&B) Group, members grappled with a familiar but still unresolved dilemma: how to reconcile the administrative…
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