We need to change the welfare debate

There can be no doubt, among the major concerns of people on the doorsteps is benefits and who’s claiming them. It seems everyone knows of a family in their street, village or town who they allege is abusing the system. At the same time they believe hard working families, like them, who play by the rules are struggling to get by.

This stereotype is reinforced by a government which gives the impression all welfare claimants are scroungers. Indeed, the terms of the welfare debate over the past five years has been focused on scroungers versus strivers.

This may play well with the media, who want to make documentaries about those on benefits or publish stories about families living what they call ‘the life of riley’ on the back of taxpayers. However, this simplistic view does not address the very real problems at the heart of welfare reform.

The coalition and the opposition are locked in a battle over the merits of their respective approaches to tackling long-term unemployment.

The Prime Minister recently announced that a future Tory Government will reduce the welfare cap to £23,000 if they are elected in May. In fact, he said that that would be the first piece of legislation for any future Conservative Government.

Now is the time to change the terms of the debate. This begins by recognising that welfare reform in all its guises has failed. Long-term unemployment and in particular youth unemployment remains stubbornly high. Over the past 30 years, all sorts of government schemes have come and gone and yet the problems remain.

Right now far too many people in politics are engaged in an arms race on this – who can demonise people most, who can be the ‘hardest.’ Every time we hear about welfare reform it becomes about hitting this group, hurting that group – this is dead end politics.

We need to bring this debate into the wider context. To begin with there needs to be an acknowledgement that the problem is not benefit ‘scroungers’ but a system which lets people down, which does not reflect the modern world where the labour market has changed beyond all recognition thanks to globalisation.

The recent growth in jobs has been at either the very top or the very bottom. That means low pay at the bottom and high pay at the top, but those in the middle are finding themselves forced out due to massive changes in the labour market.

Many of those people will have been in the same jobs for years, they will encounter tremendous barriers to getting back into work. It is this group who will need the welfare state as they have to undergo re-training in their job search.

This process will only quicken over the years. That is why there is an urgent need for reform. This must begin with Job Centre Plus.

Job Centre Plus must be more efficient and effective at getting people back to work. In recent years this has not been the case.

Although 75% of jobseeker’s allowance claimants move off benefits within six months, only about half of them are still in work eight months later, while a third are claiming benefits again.

The goal should be to support claimants into substantial long-term employment and that should be delivered by providing targeted support for jobseekers not after six months, but from day one of their employment claim.

By targeting the support, Job Centre Plus can tailor action plans to address the problems which people face in securing employment. There needs to be a recognition that everybody’s needs are different. Therefore this can only be addressed with a personalised approach rather than ‘one size fits all.’

Coupled with this, there needs to be an element of self-sufficiency in the system.

In the UK, 60% of households receive more in benefits than they pay in tax, so they are net recipients of state support.

That is, in part, the result of the tax credits introduced under the previous Labour Government which, in an attempt to tackle low pay and to eradicate relative income poverty for children, began to support families earning as much as £50,000 a year. Poverty came down, but the problems remain.

There is still a general presumption in the welfare system that the solution to low pay and poverty is to redistribute income through cash benefits.

Doing that simply subsidises low pay, leads to low wages for recipients and does nothing to encourage progression and self-sufficiency.

Future reforms must be built around the principle that income should come from work, not benefits, but that will require reforms to the scope of benefits while ensuring that family earnings increase along with a living wage. There needs to be more support for those who seek to increase their income, but that is sadly lacking from this Government.

For too long our welfare system has been broken. It teaches the wrong values, rewards the wrong choices and hurts those whom it should help. We must offer people on welfare education, training, child care and all the things they need to get back to work.

We need to offer them opportunity, but at the same time we must demand responsibility. We know that no one wants to change the system more than those who are trapped in it.

For too long welfare has been the path to dependency instead of what it should be; the way to help people into independence and dignity. Families will fall on hard times, companies will close. This will always happen no matter who is in Government.

In such circumstances the welfare system must be there to support people and be their path back to success, a ladder not a net. The goal of welfare must be to help people into substantial long-term employment. We must offer people on welfare the skills training and support they need to get back to work. This can be done, but only if we change the debate.

Christopher Evans is the Labour MP for Islwyn