{"podcast":{"title":"a nation of taxpayers","slug":"a-nation-of-taxpayers-7054204","podcast_index_feed_id":7054204,"rss_url":"https://feeds.libsyn.com/550832/rss","website_url":"https://sites.libsyn.com/550832","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/1/3/2/9/132907728aeacb5727a2322813b393ee/A_Nation_of_Taxpayers_Drafts.png","author":"Duncan Barkes","episode_count":85,"summary":"A podcast from the Taxpayers' Alliance. Talking politics and highlighting waste in all forms of government and the public sector. Presented by Duncan Barkes with guests from the Taxpayers' Alliance and from across the world of politics. On X, follow the TaxPayers' Alliance @the_tpa More links and info here: https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/","last_synced_at":"2026-06-04T20:19:01.372063+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-nation-of-taxpayers-7054204"},"episode":{"title":"What Can Be Done About Benefits Britain?","slug":"what-can-be-done-about-benefits-britain","published_at":"2026-02-26T09:31:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-nation-of-taxpayers-7054204/what-can-be-done-about-benefits-britain","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-nation-of-taxpayers-7054204","url":"https://9864e3c1-9946-4d80-ad28-f460414cc97b.libsyn.com/what-can-be-done-about-benefits-britain","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/9864e3c1-9946-4d80-ad28-f460414cc97b/Season_2_-_Episode_7_-_Caroline_Elsom_FINAL.mp3?dest-id=4754152","summary":"Podcast host Duncan Barkes and the TPA's Anne Strickland are joined by Caroline Elsom who is Head of Government Reform at the Onward think tank. They discuss the country's ever-increasing welfare bill and highlight the areas of duplication and abuse that are costing taxpayers a fortune. Anne talks about the escalating asylum seeker social care costs that are hammering the budgets of local councils across the UK. Caroline outlines the findings of her report 'The Hidden Benefits Bill' that shows Universal Credit claimants are able to get £10billion in extra benefits. She also talks about her time as a Special Adviser to the British Governemnt and working under three different prime ministers.","meta_description":"Podcast host Duncan Barkes and the TPA's Anne Strickland are joined by Caroline Elsom who is Head of Government Reform at the Onward think tank. They disc…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2599,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-nation-of-taxpayers-7054204/episodes/what-can-be-done-about-benefits-britain/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-nation-of-taxpayers-7054204/what-can-be-done-about-benefits-britain.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}