Monday newspaper round-up: Benefit fraud, nuclear reactors, state pensions

(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves will launch a fresh crackdown on benefit fraud at the same time as lifting the two-child limit for universal credit at a cost of £3bn, as ministers seek to head off criticism over rising welfare spending in the budget. The chancellor has made the decision to scrap the two-child limit in full, a move that will be welcomed by Labour MPs who have long highlighted its effect on increasing child poverty. - Guardian A government taskforce has finalised its plans to speed up and lower the cost of rolling out a new generation of nuclear reactors by streamlining UK regulation. The nuclear regulatory taskforce was set up by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, in February after the government promised to rip up "archaic rules" and slash regulations to "get Britain building". - Guardian

Pensioners will see their state pensions rise by as much as £550 next year under the triple lock pledge, the Government has said. Some 13 million pensioners will get above-inflation increases to their retirement pot from April, as Rachel Reeves prepares to mount another major tax raid at her second Budget on Wednesday. - Telegraph

The taxpayer bill for a benefits scheme funding smartwatches, wobble boards and sunlight alarm clocks to help people stay in work has surged by more than a fifth in just a year, official data shows. Spending on the government-funded Access to Work scheme - which can hand claimants nearly £70,000 a year for equipment and support, including work coaches, noise-cancelling headphones and Apple smartwatches - jumped to £321m in the year to March. - Telegraph

The cost of Christmas chocolates is set to remain high this year despite a sharp reversal in cocoa prices in recent months - though there may be a chance of cheaper Easter eggs. After a two-year rally that drove the market to unprecedented highs, cocoa futures fell to a 21-month low at near $5,000 per tonne on November 12. That is more than 50 per cent off a peak of above $12,000 last year, although still roughly twice the long-term average. London cocoa was down 2.2 per cent to £3,879 per tonne on Friday, while New York cocoa fell 2.3 per cent to $5,159 per tonne. - The Times