Oh well

[Meekychuppet]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10807098

Single benefit payment among 'radical' welfare plans

Mr Duncan Smith has argued that work is the best form of welfare
All out-of-work benefits and tax credits could be scrapped and replaced with a single payment as part of a "radical" shake-up of the welfare system.

The idea is one of three options being considered by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to make work pay.

He says the current system is "on the verge of breakdown".

Labour have said the start-up costs of a new system could be as much as £7bn.

Mr Duncan Smith has refused to be drawn on the cost, but argues that billions could be saved each year in bureaucracy and fraud with a much simpler system.

Since coming to office, Mr Duncan Smith has vowed to tackle what he says is a "culture of worklessness" and "entrenched" welfare dependency and poverty in parts of the country.

'Trapped on benefits'
He has said it is a scandal that there are five million people on out of work benefits and that nearly 1.5 million have been on benefits for nine out of the last 10 years.

Ministers want to remove disincentives in the tax system to finding work, making sure that claimants do not find themselves worse off when starting a job than while on benefits, which they say is often the case under current arrangements.

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The objective is to improve the quality of life for the worst off in society and get those at the bottom end back into work”

Iain Duncan Smith
Work and Pension Secretary
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To achieve this, Mr Duncan Smith has set out three options: Combining elements of the current income-related benefits and tax credit systems, bringing the 50 or so out-of-work and in-work benefits into a single "universal credit" and supplementing monthly household earnings through credit payments reflecting circumstances such as children, housing and disability.

Under the proposals, claimants finding work could have their benefits withdrawn at a single set rate and tapered to leave them better off than before.

Mr Duncan Smith told the BBC it was his aim to make people in work "better off, and their families better-off, than they would be out of work and on benefits".

"The objective is to improve the quality of life for the worst off in society and get those at the bottom end back into work... and get more children out of child poverty," he said.

"There is still a culture of worklessness, feeling trapped on benefits. That will change."

'Much simpler'
Years of "piecemeal reform" had resulted in a system that was "complex" and inefficient, he said.

"The system we are talking about will make the benefit system much simpler. It will make it easier to understand. They will be able, for themselves, to calculate how going to work, or doing extra hours in work, will pay," he added.

Announcing a consultation on the proposed changes, he said he knew how they could be funded but the details would not be released until the autumn when a White Paper will be published.

The BBC's Political Correspondent Ross Hawkins said the consultation paper was short on detail about the level of any universal benefit and at what point benefit withdrawal would be tapered.

The cost of the programme was estimated at £3bn when the Conservatives were in opposition but Mr Duncan Smith said this was just one of many figures cited.

While "not denying" that it would require additional upfront spending, he said reforms would lead to "dramatic savings" as well as it would eliminate costs relating to over-payments on tax credits totalling billions every year.

"We have done the maths," he said, stressing he believed the sums added up.

Mr Duncan Smith denied he was "in a rush" to introduce the changes but said history suggested governments had "limited" time to push through reforms on this scale and he wanted to "get the process" going.

'Sham'
Labour have questioned whether the plans are affordable and may result in cuts in welfare provision elsewhere.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper said the proposals were "a sham to cover the fact that the Budget actually cut work incentives, cut jobs and cut help for people to return to work".

"Labour's minimum wage and tax credits made many families thousands of pounds better off in work," she added.

"We think it's good to go further, but the truth is that the Budget is heading in the opposite direction, cutting tax credits and increasing withdrawal rates.

"Major reform either costs billions or means taking money from those who need it most. Iain Duncan Smith needs to be honest and tell us which it is."

Thatcherism it is then.

[Trolldor]

At least Thatcher fought against the Junta, your new lot would have probably just given them some flowers and wished them well.

[Meekychuppet]

At least Thatcher fought against the Junta, your new lot would have probably just given them some flowers and wished them well.

Yeah. We're all really grateful to Thatcher for what she did...

[Feck]

At least Thatcher fought against the Junta, your new lot would have probably just given them some flowers and wished them well.

Not considering how much oil is there ...

[Pappa]

Tebbit's "on your bike" - shades of.

[Meekychuppet]

Tebbit's "on your bike" - shades of.

No shit.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I actually agree with a lot of what is mentioned there - I have grave doubts that it will end up being implemented in any kind of a fair and equitable manner though!

I have just started work after being unemployed for 2 years. I could have taken a part time job in a bar a few nights a week but every penny I earned over the first £5 would have been clawed back from my benefits! This meant that it was idiotic for me to work more than 1 hour a week!

There does need to be a graded entry into work. We do need a situation where the more hours you work, the better off you are. Integration of JSA, Income Support, Housing benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit into a single payment makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is trying to strongarm people into jobs that don't exist during a time of high unemployment and cutting / reducing their benefits if they can't find work. This is what I fear from a Conservative government.