1. The document discusses flaws in the current UK welfare system and proposals for reform, arguing that the system overly taxes and stigmatizes the poor.
2. It proposes an alternative "Family Security System" with a universal basic income, fair taxes for all, and a focus on supporting women and families.
3. Key recommendations include establishing legal rights to realize human rights principles, making the income security system universal, and shifting power back to local communities through personalized support systems.
1. Real Welfare Reform
or
One cheer for current government policy
by Dr Simon Duffy,
e Centre for
Welfare Reform,
Inside Government:
Welfare Reform Event
London 7th June 2011
2. The Centre for Welfare
• Independent Research & Development Network
• Founded upon belief in human equality and diversity
• A community of 50 Fellows
• Innovators who created individual budgets, self-
directed support, support planning etc...
• Publications available at
www.centreforwelfarereform.org
3. The Centre for Welfare
• Independent Research & Development Network
• Founded upon belief in human equality and diversity
• A community of 50 Fellows
• Innovators who created individual budgets, self-
directed support, support planning etc...
• Publications available at
www.centreforwelfarereform.org
working to
democratise the
7. the loud argument
• State = good • Markets = good
• Markets fail • States can’t plan
• Give help • Give choice
• Increase services • Cut taxes
that disguises
8. the quiet assumption of
• Meritocracy - society should be led by the ‘best’
people - politicians, civil servants or business men
• People can’t be trusted - people must be
governed by fear or greed
• Economic growth is the goal - growth creates
money for taxes and for profit
9. an alternative
• Democracy is vital - we cannot entrust our lives
into the hands of an elite
• Citizenship is the means - we must be trusted to
improve our own lives as part of our communities
• Social Justice is the goal - we need the rights and
duties that enable and support citizenship
current flawed
system includes...
11. Some things to keep in
1. e poor can be very poor indeed - the poorest must
live on £2,780 per year - compared to mean
household income of £50,000 per year (<6%).
2. e poor pay marginal taxes of around 100% on their
earnings and they pay more tax as a percentage of
their income than any other group (!!)
3. Poor lose income if they live together - 25% tax on IS
and have no incentive to save or invest.
4. e UK is the third most unequal society aer USA
and Portugal
12. One cheer - there is a
growing recognition that
the tax-benefit system is
1. e recognition that the poor are over-taxed
2. at the benefit system is unfair and unduly complex
3. at the benefit system is stigmatising
4. at the tax and benefit systems should be integrated
13. 137 different
ways...
to give people
not very
much...
•linked or not
•means-tested or
not
•tax credits or
benefits
•disability related
or not
•employment-
seeking or not
14. Government Strategy
• Integrate benefits
• Improve incentives to work
• Increase penalties for ‘non-compliance’
• New regime to test ‘disability’
• New providers to help people into work
15. Government Strategy
• Integrate benefits
• Improve incentives to work
• Increase penalties for ‘non-compliance’
• New regime to test ‘disability’
• New providers to help people into work
premise - poverty is largely
motivational in origin
16. One sigh - blaming the
poor gets you votes - ugly
• benefit thieves
• under-class
• feckless and work shy
• benefit dependency
• failing families
17. One sigh - blaming the
poor gets you votes - ugly
• benefit thieves
• under-class
• feckless and work shy
• benefit dependency
• failing families
the impossible problem of
the undeserving poor
18. Citizens Advice acknowledges that the £1.5 billion cost of
fraud in the benefit system must be recovered, but we are very
concerned at the government’s persistent tendency to roll fraud
and error figures together. Errors account for the remaining
£3.7 billion of the £5.2 billion figure quoted...
In the meantime, the £5 billion cost to government through
fraud and error is dwarfed by the £17 billion of benefits and
tax credits that remain un-claimed every year, because people
don’t know they are entitled to claim, or because the system is
too complicated. e danger of making benefits more difficult
to claim is that people in real need will not receive the money
they need to pay their rent, keep their families warm, or feed
their children.
Teresa Perchard , Director of Social Policy at Citizens Advice
21. 1.5 million people with the most
significant disabilities will lose:
• £4.6 billion in social care support
• £4 billion in disability living
allowance
• Termination of ILF
• Cuts to Supporting People
• Many further cuts in housing
support and other benefits
Services perceived as universal are protected: pensions,
NHS and schools - services that are perceived as
marginal are cut: social care, disability benefits,
community spending...
22. 1.5 million people with the most
significant disabilities will lose:
• £4.6 billion in social care support
• £4 billion in disability living
allowance
• Termination of ILF
• Cuts to Supporting People
• Many further cuts in housing
support and other benefits
Services perceived as universal are protected: pensions,
NHS and schools - services that are perceived as
marginal are cut: social care, disability benefits,
community spending...
BUT they may not get away with it
www.campaignforasociety.org
23. An alternative
• Growth has undermined older systems of security
(the land, the Church, the family or the firm).
• Growth will never provider sufficient income to
keep the poorest from unacceptable poverty
• As a community it is our role to make sure we
safeguard everyone from poverty
24. An alternative
• Growth has undermined older systems of security
(the land, the Church, the family or the firm).
• Growth will never provider sufficient income to
keep the poorest from unacceptable poverty
• As a community it is our role to make sure we
safeguard everyone from poverty
premise - poverty can be
limited by our social
25.
26. Family Security
System:
• Universal income security
• Fair taxes for all
• Focus on women &
family structures
Underpinned by respect for human rights,
constitutional reform and transparent
systems for defining entitlements and
taxes.
27. Thoughts for government
• Start focusing not on benefit caps - but
underlying security and key principles
• Create a transparent process for defining
underlying securities
• Create legal rights - to realise human rights -
and checks and balances to make rights real
• Make the system of income security universal
28. A further question - what
role will the welfare to work
providers play
• Increased regulation or real innovation?
• Profit for the wealthy or greater equality?
• Centralisation or localism?
29. A further question - what
role will the welfare to work
providers play
• Increased regulation or real innovation?
• Profit for the wealthy or greater equality?
• Centralisation or localism?
What were the
lessons of
30. Personalisation -
succeeded to the extent
• People began to see themselves as citizens - resources
they can control
• Professionals allow people to define outcomes that
are meaningful to them
• Communities began to see these change as
underpinned by principles of social justice
31. Personalisation -
succeeded to the extent
• People began to see themselves as citizens - resources
they can control
• Professionals allow people to define outcomes that
are meaningful to them
• Communities began to see these change as
underpinned by principles of social justice
Recognising that we already
have the resources we need
35. WomenCentre:
• Real Total Place innovation
• Slashed re-offending rates -
to less than 5%
• Success in protecting
women and children from
abuse
• Significant improvements
in mental health
• Modest funding - but now
cut by 41%
38. For providers
the challenge is to
• Build on personal capacity
• Stimulate local solutions
• Challenge faulty tax-benefit system
• Help shi power back to local communities
• Resist the temptation to just play the system
41. Thoughts for local
communities
• Protect flexibility of personalisation - don’t let
personal budgets get restricted
• Work with schools and develop systems like
Personalised Transition
• Protect and support local champions of change and
innovation - don’t import providers
• Challenge central government and focus on
protecting citizen’s rights