FPTP - Making Work Pay?

Julie Smith, King Edward VI Handsworth School

Making
work pay?

With several key benefit reforms underway and the government still aiming to cut
welfare spending by at least £18bn before the next general election, social security
is bound to be an issue high on the party conference agenda. The following chart is
designed to help students of Politics navigate their way through the changes.
Reform

The Government Says...

Critics say...

Universal
Credit

This will simplify the current system by rolling six benefits
into one, thus reducing room for fraud or error. It is
designed to ‘make work pay’ and reduce reliance on the
state, the so-called ‘dependency culture’. Ian Duncan
Smith’s flagship policy represents the biggest reform of
the welfare system since the 1940s and could affect up to
8 million people who are ‘trapped on benefits’.

It won’t work! The scheme is due to be rolled out by October
2017, yet problems with its implementation have already
become apparent this month. The National Audit Office
has criticised its management, governance and IT setbacks.
While Labour broadly welcomes the principle behind it, the
union Unite objects to what it calls the division between
‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor.

The Benefit
Cap

This will also ensure that households are better off in work
than on benefits. Families will not be able to claim more
than £26,000 and the cap will ultimately become part of the
Universal Credit system. Coupled with this, a 1% annual rise
in benefits will ensure that payments do not overtake wage
increases in the public sector. The government says that
more than 12,000 have already moved into work as a result.

Millions of families will be worse off as prices continue to
rise. Labour has warned of a ‘cost of living crisis’ and has
instead pledged to strengthen the minimum wage in line
with inflation and offer 25 hours of free child care a week
to parents of 3 and 4 year olds. These are also measures
designed to ‘make work pay’! Others argue that the cap will
hit those living in more expensive parts of the country
hardest as they struggle to pay private rents.

Disability
Benefits

These should focus on what people can do rather than what
they cannot do! Reform of the old Incapacity Benefit began
under Labour and the change to Employment and Support
Allowance is already well underway. Disability Living
Allowance (available to those unable to work) is now being
replaced by Personal Independence Payments. PIPs are
subject to stricter conditions and are thus likely to have
fewer claimants.

The system for testing who is and who is not capable of
work is fundamentally flawed! Shadow Work and Pensions
Secretary Liam Byrne has called for Atos, the French company
responsible for carrying out work capability assessments, to
be sacked. According to Labour, 2 in every 5 people appeal
against its decisions. Charities for the disabled are also
warning that those with more complex benefit claims will
lose out.

Housing
Benefit

This will reduce the benefits bill still further by cutting
payments made to those occupying council or housing
association homes which are larger than they need. The
‘spare room subsidy’ should save £490 million in taxpayer’s
money in this financial year alone and ease overcrowding.

This is a ‘bedroom tax’! The Liberal Democrats at their recent
conference backed a review of the measure, which began
in April, and Labour have gone still further by pledging to
abolish it altogether! According to the TUC, 1 in 3 council
tenants affected has already fallen behind with rent.

So it is clear that the coalition wants to crack down on what it sees as
a ‘something for nothing’ culture, as well as reducing welfare spending.
Whether it will succeed in achieving its aims, without removing the
safety net for those in genuine need, remains to be seen. Either way,
the battle lines are already being drawn for the next general election.

Questions
Find out more about each of these policies and the
controversies surrounding them.
Identify the themes running through the coalition’s benefit
reform programme.
Discuss the extent to which limiting state benefits may
be politically popular but socially unfair.

FPTP - Making Work Pay?

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