Finding an extra £10 billion saving from the welfare budget must not take support away from the most vulnerable in society, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has said.

The CSJ took part in a number of national media debates this week following an announcement that the Government wants to find additional savings in the welfare system.

Christian Guy, Managing Director of the CSJ, told BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours debate (from 17:00) ‘there are no easy targets in the welfare budget’, and reiterated calls to reconsider universal benefits that are paid to wealthier pensioners. 

In another debate on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Tony Livesey show (from 18.00), Christian said the introduction of Universal Credit, which was designed by the CSJ and will replace the current working-age welfare system, will make it easier for people to get into work and keep more of their earnings.

The CSJ was also interviewed on BBC London’s Vanessa Feltz show and LBC.

The Government is under pressure to fulfil its commitments on family policy after a CSJ paper argued that not enough is being done to prevent family breakdown.

The paper, Forgotten Families? The Vanishing Agenda, said families headed by married couples will be a minority in a generation.

Tim Loughton MP, until recently Minister for Children, hit out at a lack of Government focus on family policy when he spoke at a CSJ Conservative Party conference fringe event this week.

He backed the report, saying: 'The Government urgently needs to get a coordinated family policy back on track and rediscover its DNA. We fail to do so at our peril, socially and economically.'

The report was covered by the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Yahoo Lifestyle, Family Law Week and Times of India.

Tackling social breakdown is essential to avoiding a repeat of the riots that paralysed the streets of English cities last August, Iain Duncan Smith MP told a packed CSJ event at Conservative conference.

The CSJ Patron and current Work and Pensions Secretary said the riots were a ‘wake-up call’ to worrying social trends that have gripped communities in the UK.

In a frank interview with Spectator editor Fraser Nelson, Duncan Smith said the impact of the riots should not be forgotten and underlined why he is committed to reforming the welfare system and tackling gang crime.

The interview, which was blogged about here, was part of a series of CSJ fringe events at the conference. We also hosted  events on education reform with Education Minister Liz Truss MP, family policy with Labour MP Graham Allen and youth unemployment with Further Education Minister John Hayes MP.