Let's lower the barriers to welfare

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

The Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWR) is not alone in believing the welfare system needs reforming – politicians also seem to agree reforms are needed.

Yet current approaches, supported across the political spectrum and the media, only increase the hurdles faced by the sick, the disabled, the unemployed and those with caring responsibilities. They are leading to cuts in already hopelessly inadequate benefit levels, currently well below government-backed minimum income standards of £166.44 per week, and are undermining action to eradicate child poverty.

This is reinforced by a background of inaccurate and discriminatory media stories which too often demonise claimants. The system increasingly focuses on blaming individuals for being out of work, while the real barriers to employment such as lack of childcare, employer discrimination, below poverty level wages and the lack of jobs are not tackled effectively. Many lone parents are required to engage in stressful work seeking activities despite recognised inadequate childcare provision in some areas.

Why? In large part because too often politicians and the media reinforce, rather than challenge, unfounded myths that the system is so generous that claimants are choosing not to work, and so lax that benefit fraud is a major problem. They ignore the fact that benefit rates remain well below the poverty line and that levels of fraud are at all time low. In doing so, they stigmatise hundreds of thousands of ordinary voters as trapped in "welfare dependency" or, worse still, as "benefit scroungers". Reforms then prioritise getting people off benefits and cutting the welfare bill, rather than mending the safety net and improving work opportunities.

But if the next government is not to plunge our fellow citizens into even deeper poverty we need a more rational debate on welfare reform; a debate that listens to the organisations that work with those who are most affected, and, more importantly, that listens to the voices of people who directly experience the system.

Currently, the value of basic benefits, around £65 per week, is so low that it falls well below the UK governments own definition of poverty, leaving many people struggling to feed and clothe themselves adequately. The system lacks compassion and respect for the dignity of individuals. Under Employment and Support Allowance rules even those with a terminal illness can be required to attend work focused interviews that too often feel pointless and humiliating.

Proposals to reform the care system including the suggested abolition of Attendance Allowance, with funding given to local authorities instead of individuals, would undermine the right of disabled people rights to decide things for themselves.

Recent welfare reforms have focused on getting people into work at any cost as the key route out of poverty. Yet increasing numbers of people are being forced into low paid, unfulfilling jobs which undermine their own and their families health and wellbeing. At the same time, an immense amount of unpaid work in caring for young children, for ill and disabled friends and relatives, or socially valuable volunteering goes unrewarded.

The successive introduction of new benefits with even more conditions attached has resulted in a system so complex people often don't know what they are entitled to and are frequently plunged into financial crisis every time their circumstances change. The system is expensive to administer and badly underfunded, leaving staff facing impossible demands. It is time to stop tinkering with the system and make some fundamental changes.

This is why SCoWR is campaigning for five key reforms: increase benefit rates to a level where no one is left in poverty and all have sufficient income to lead a dignified life; make respect for human rights and dignity the cornerstone of a new approach to welfare; radically simplify the welfare system; invest in the support needed to enable everyone to participate fully in society; make welfare benefits in Scotland, suitable for Scotland.

The key reforms in the manifesto, based on case evidence and research from SCoWR organisations, call for benefit rates to be increased so that no one is left in poverty and everyone has a minimum socially acceptable quality of life. It describes reforms that would ensure the system treats people with dignity. It proposes simplifying the system by increasing benefit disregards to make moves into work easier, and reducing the complexity and stigma of means-testing by making more use of universal benefits like child benefit. It argues for reforms that would ensure high quality childcare and employment support is available to everyone and that take into account the very different services in place in Scotland.

Making these reforms, investing in welfare and insuring against the risks of ill-health, disability and unemployment would require upfront investment. But that investment would pay a massive return, slashing the cost poverty imposes on society, removing barriers to paid employment, enhancing the lives of some of our most vulnerable citizens and boosting the security of us all.