Richard Ault

Around 235,000 working-age adults in Greater Manchester claim Personal Independence Payment, equivalent to 10.1% of the region's working-age population. Wythenshawe and Sale East has the highest local rate at 13.5%, followed by Blackley and Middleton South at 13.4% and Bolton South and Walkden at 12.3%. Psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and PTSD, account for 39% of PIP claims nationally and are the leading category in every English and Welsh parliamentary constituency. The article explains that PIP is intended to cover disability-related extra costs rather than replace income, and reports criticism of the assessment system from the Timms Review. It also contrasts these findings with Jeremy Clarkson's disputed comments about young claimants and outlines Andy Burnham's support for changes to welfare and social-care provision.

Greater Manchester residents cannot routinely access accurate street-level crime data because GMP's troubled iOPS records system has been unable to produce reliable feeds for Police.uk. The problem follows historic failures in crime recording, including an estimated 80,000 crimes left unrecorded in one year, although the force has since improved substantially and exited special measures. Apparent figures showing almost no crime in places such as Piccadilly Gardens, Moss Side and Longsight are therefore severely under-representative. GMP plans to replace PoliceWorks with Mark43, but the new system may not go live until spring 2027, leaving communities without dependable local crime information in the meantime.