Universal Credit - designed by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) - will rejuvenate Britain's ruptured welfare system and give millions of people the tools to escape poverty, the think tank has said.

The CSJ has been at the heart of an intense debate about welfare reform and the advantages it could bring. Supporters of the new system say it will be far fairer and easier to understand than the myriad of benefits it will replace.

Christian Guy, Managing Director, told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight programme that Universal Credit (UC) will provide greater protection to the vulnerable by ensuring that work pays and that people in employment keep more of their money. He said to the  Press Association that UC 'will drive right to the heart of decades of welfare failure'.

The CSJ's Deven Ghelani and Dr Samantha Callan took part in a number of broadcast interviews, including R4's The World this Weekend, BBC News, R4's Woman's Hour and BBC West Midlands.

The CSJ was also quoted in the Guardian, the Daily Express,  Express and Star, Belfast Telegraph and Politics Home.

A CSJ report that called for the legal definition of domestic abuse to be widened to include 'coercive control' has been endorsed by the Government.

The change, which comes following the publication of our report Beyond Violence, means that behaviour such as stalking or preventing partners from leaving a home could lead to prosecution.

Co-author of the report, Dr Samantha Callan, appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live's Breakfast show where she welcomed the move, and said this definitional change should be the first step to putting the law on the side of those trapped in coercive abuse.

Samantha was also interviewed on BBC London's Vanessa Feltz show, BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat, LBC's Iain Dale show and BBC Radio Leicester. The CSJ was also quoted in the Telegraph and the Daily Mail. 

The CSJ responded to reports the Government is considering breaking the link between benefits and price inflation - instead planning to index any increase against average wage levels.

The proposed move is part of an attempt to make an extra £10 billion of savings from the welfare budget, and to ensure the system sends positive signals about work.

In the last year people in work have seen their incomes rise slowly, if at all, while benefits have risen much higher because they are tied to inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). Critics of the current system have said this is unfair on those in work.

Christian Guy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (starts at 1.55.02) that it is important out-of-work benefits do not rise higher than wages. In an interview with Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Radio 5Live (starts at 46.26) he added that the last economic year had 'undermined the message you are better off in work'.

In an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, he added that the Government’s previous pledge to protect the pensioner pot may have been a 'mistake'.