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Welfare reform proposals awaited Welfare reform proposals revealed
(about 5 hours later)
The government is to lay out its plans for what it calls a "root and branch reform" of Britain's welfare system. Britain's welfare system was "trapping" poor people in poverty, the work and pensions secretary said as he unveiled the government's reform plans.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is set to create a welfare to work programme and make benefits more conditional on willingness to work. Iain Duncan Smith wants to create a welfare-to-work programme and make benefits more conditional on willingness to work.
He told the Guardian that at present the rewards for choosing to work were "very minimal" or even "none at all". He said the system was "broken" and unaffordable.
In families where unemployment was widespread, those who did try get a job were often seen as "morons", he added. Shadow work secretary Yvette Cooper claimed the government had cut 80,000 youth jobs.
Mr Duncan Smith, brought back into frontline politics by Prime Minister David Cameron, has spent several years in opposition preparing a blueprint for the future of the welfare state.Mr Duncan Smith, brought back into frontline politics by Prime Minister David Cameron, has spent several years in opposition preparing a blueprint for the future of the welfare state.
The former Conservative Party leader is now responsible for pushing the government's Welfare Reform Bill - announced in Tuesday's Queen's Speech - through Parliament over the next few months.The former Conservative Party leader is now responsible for pushing the government's Welfare Reform Bill - announced in Tuesday's Queen's Speech - through Parliament over the next few months.
Of most concern to the new government is the rise in the number of inactive people of working age claiming benefits. We must be here to help people improve their lives, not just park them on long-term benefits. Iain Duncan SmithWork and Pensions Secretary
The BBC's home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds said its proposals will include forcing the unemployed to sign up for welfare-to-work training schemes sooner than is currently required. Speaking to welfare experts from the voluntary, private and public sectors on Thursday, Mr Iain Duncan Smith said it was "absurd" that some of the poorest people faced huge penalties for moving from benefits to work.
Incapacity benefit He said 1.4 million people have been on out-of-work benefits for nine or more of the last 10 years.
Ministers want the long-term unemployed facing "the most serious barriers to work" to sign up to work and training programmes immediately and for those under 25 to get support within six months. "This picture is set against a backdrop of 13 years of continuously increasing expenditure, which has outstripped inflation.
They also want to speed up the assessment of all those on incapacity benefit - paid to those unable to work due to health problems. All those deemed able to work are likely to be moved onto jobseeker's allowance. "Worse than the growing expense though, is the fact that the money is not even making the impact we want it to," he said.
Mr Duncan Smith told the Guardian: "People basically get parked on [incapacity] benefit and forgotten about. If you have been on this benefit for more than two years, you are likely to die on it." "A system that was originally designed to support the poorest in society is now trapping them in the very condition it was supposed to alleviate."
Lots of different hard-headed politicians have come into this job saying they're going to do something different and walked out with the bills of social failure still rising Iain Duncan Smith He said it was a "tragedy" that people on incapacity benefit for more than two years were more likely to retire or die than get a job.
At present, he said, the welfare system discouraged many of the five million people who are on benefits from working. "We must be here to help people improve their lives, not just park them on long-term benefits. Aspiration, it seems, is in danger of becoming the preserve of the wealthy."
"If you are unemployed and you come from a family that is unemployed, all you can see when you think about work is risk. It is a real risk because for all the efforts you make the rewards are very minimal and in some cases none at all. Incapacity benefit reassessment
"Socially, everyone says, 'You are a bloody moron - why are you doing this?"' Almost five million people were on out of work benefits and 1.4 million under-25s were not working or in full-time education, he said.
He said those moved off incapacity benefit would be offered "intensive" support to find work and that all of the changes would be enacted "carefully and sensitively". Martin Jenkins said he is paid more on benefits that on the minimum wage
Labour sought to increase incentives to work and introduce penalties for those unwilling to do so but the Conservatives said reforms must go further and faster to tackle the problem of long-term unemployment, which they say underpins many of the country's most deep-seated social problems. Outlining a welfare system that he said needed to be simple, Mr Duncan Smith said a Work Programme will be established.
During the campaign, the Tories called for a sliding scale of sanctions for those on benefits who turned down work. It will include allowing older workers on to a welfare-to-work programme immediately rather than having to wait 12 months, as is currently the case.
Penalties will be introduced to benefit claimants who refuse to accept jobs, and everyone on incapacity benefit will be reassessed.
Mr Duncan Smith will chair a new Cabinet Committee, involving Cabinet members from the treasury, Home Office, health, and communities and local government, to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.
'Better off'
Ms Cooper said tax credits had made many people in low-paid jobs "thousands of pounds better off" but they did not always realise it.
She said the government had cut the job chances for young people.
"If you look really at what the Conservatives are proposing, they talk about trying to get more people back into work.
"In fact, the only thing they have done so far is to cut £300 million from the employment programmes budget - including cutting one of the highest-quality programmes, the Future Jobs Fund - and that means cutting 80,000 youth jobs at a time when unemployment is too high," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
HAVE YOUR SAYA lot of people are going to be put under pressure looking for jobs that just aren't thereTD, UK Send us your comments
She urged the government to continue with the incapacity reforms started by Labour.
Labour sought to increase incentives to work and introduce penalties for those unwilling to do so, but the Conservatives said reforms must go further and faster to tackle the problem of long-term unemployment, which they say underpins many of the country's most deep-seated social problems.
Labour ideas
During the election campaign, the Tories called for a sliding scale of sanctions for those on benefits who turned down work.
As in all policy areas, the government's welfare agenda is having to reflect compromises reached between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems in their coalition agreement.As in all policy areas, the government's welfare agenda is having to reflect compromises reached between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems in their coalition agreement.
'Bills of failure' In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Mr Duncan-Smith hinted that he was prepared to reach out to sympathetic figures in the Labour Party to try and build a consensus over the reforms.
The proposals are also likely to include paying welfare-to-work providers on a results-basis, loans to help unemployed people set up their own businesses and local work clubs where people out of work can share skills and make contacts.
The government may also say how it intends to end what it claims is a system that penalises those on benefits should they try to get a low-paid job.
As part of the changes, a new cabinet committee will be set up to co-ordinate the strategy between different government departments.
In his interview, Mr Duncan-Smith hinted that he was prepared to reach out to sympathetic figures in the Labour Party to try and build a consensus over the reforms.
"Lots of different hard-headed politicians have come into this job saying they're going to do something different and walked out with the bills of social failure still rising," he said."Lots of different hard-headed politicians have come into this job saying they're going to do something different and walked out with the bills of social failure still rising," he said.
"I'm determined that we take this once-in-a-generation chance to tie two parties together, and possibly elements of the third, to get the job done.""I'm determined that we take this once-in-a-generation chance to tie two parties together, and possibly elements of the third, to get the job done."
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