The week in five desks: 9 November 2026

Five things that happened in the systems we follow, one per desk, with the number and the mechanism, and one thing that works. No argument; the leaders do that.

Australia: housing with support built in

Queensland's housing minister announced on 10 November a Supported Accommodation programme of 37 projects and more than 600 places for people sleeping rough. The model is transitional: a home with specialist support on site around the clock, from which tenants move on to private, social or affordable housing once they are ready. It is paid for from the state's capital programme and by redirecting existing funding; the cost has not been disclosed, and sites are to be identified by 2028. The state's wider target is 53,500 social and community homes within a million new homes by 2044. In Canberra, the Senate committee inquiring into Support at Home reports on 24 November.

United Kingdom: shorter waits, longer list

NHS England's figures for September, published on 12 November, show 65.8% of patients waiting for planned hospital treatment had waited less than 18 weeks, the best since September 2021 and above the government's interim target of 65%. The waiting list itself grew for the third month running, to 7.38 million treatments (about 6.24 million people). 116,353 people had waited more than a year, 1.6% of the list, against a target of under 1% by last March. The next milestone is 70% within 18 weeks by March 2027; the pledge is 92% by 2029. The Timms Review's final recommendations on disability benefits are due this month.

United States: two rules to narrow food aid

The Department of Agriculture published two proposed rules for SNAP, the food-assistance programme, on 10 November; comments close on 10 December. The first would end "broad-based categorical eligibility", which 46 states use to extend SNAP to households above 130% of the poverty line, by limiting it to households whose every member receives cash welfare, and would bring back asset tests. ABC News reports estimates that more than six million people would lose SNAP and nearly two million children free school meals; the rule would not take effect until 2029. The second narrows the waivers that let areas of high unemployment suspend work requirements for adults without dependants.

Europe: France's Senate rewrites the social security budget

The French Senate began debating the 2027 social security budget on 9 November, after the National Assembly rejected it; a final Senate vote is set for 18 November. The government wants to cut next year's deficit from €22.6 billion to €12.7 billion and hold health spending growth to 2%, against 3.4% underlying. The Senate's committee has changed the bill: pensions up to €1,500 a month, rather than €1,260, would rise with inflation, covering about 40% of pensioners instead of a third; a €1 billion levy on the complementary insurers, the mutuelles, is dropped; and a €200 million emergency fund for nursing homes is added.

China and comparators: Korea ties its basic pension to residence

China's national list of reimbursable drugs, negotiated in September, is still awaited. In South Korea the government said on 5 November that from April 2027 the basic pension, a means-tested payment to people over 65, will require at least five years' residence in the country after the age of 19. The change follows a rise in payments to dual citizens living mostly abroad: recipients grew from 3,621 in 2021 to 8,176 in 2025, and the annual sum from ₩11.8 billion to ₩31.4 billion.

What's working: New Zealand's healthy homes

New Zealand's Healthy Homes Initiative fixes the houses of low-income families whose children are at risk of illness linked to cold, damp or crowded housing: insulation, heating, curtains, beds, and help moving where a house cannot be fixed. A study published in August in Social Science & Medicine, covering children enrolled between 2014 and 2023, found 29% fewer hospital admissions over five years than expected, about 2,800 admissions avoided. It is a housing programme measured as a health programme, which is how its costs and savings land.

Also this week

Dutch insurers had until 12 November to publish their 2027 premiums; the government's estimate of the average is €169 a month, up €12.50, and the compulsory deductible rises to €400. Germany's care reform bill goes to an expert hearing in the Bundestag on 25 November; without it the care insurance deficit is projected at €7.5 billion in 2027. The US administration says it will appeal the 29 October ruling on Medicaid's "medically frail" exemption; the work requirements still start on 1 January.

Sources: ABC News, 10 Nov 2026; The Weekly Source, 4 Nov 2026; NHS England referral-to-treatment statistics, September 2026 (via The British Eye and Cover); BritBrief on the Timms Review; Federal Register, 10 Nov 2026 (SNAP categorical eligibility; work requirements for able-bodied adults); NACo; ABC News (US); Sénat, compte rendu, 9 Nov 2026; Public Sénat; Korea JoongAng Daily, 5 Nov 2026; Johnson et al., Social Science & Medicine vol. 407 (Aug 2026) and University of Otago; Zorgkiezer; Deutscher Bundestag, hib; AOK; Health Management Associates, 4 Nov 2026.