Benefits

Labour and Tories race to attack benefits

David Cameron has launched a fresh offensive against single parents, unemployed and disabled people with plans to force them into work. The Tory leader’s proposals include making the unemployed participate in “community work”, penalties for those who turn down “reasonable” job offers and cutting the number of people receiving incapacity benefit by 600,000 over the next five years. At the heart of the Tories’ plans is a vast overhaul of the incapacity benefit system, which caters for 2.6 million ill and disabled people, most of whom suffer from either mental disorders or musculo-skeletal...

Rich? Then why not tell the poor what to do...

By Jill Mountford David Freud’s a banker, a big banker and, it goes without saying, he’s very wealthy. So the Government (the Department of Work and Pensions) chose him to write an “independent” report on welfare reform, him being independent and all — entitled “Reducing Dependency, Increasing Opportunity”. Gordon Brown, on the other hand, is not “independent”. He’s set to be the next Labour Prime Minister and he likes what David Freud, the rich banker, has to say. For Brown, Freud’s report is the “first stage of a new decade of welfare reform” that he will “champion.” My friend, Janine, is a...

Incapacity benefit cut - Defend the welfare state!

By Ruben Lomas Foundation Hospitals, handing over schools to businesses, giving employers control of curricula in Further Education — no corner of the public sector or welfare state is safe from the Blairite project of subordinating every aspect of public life to the needs and drives of the market. Now the government plans a fresh assault against incapacity benefits, something they have gone after twice before — in 1999 and in early 2005. Then, the government proposed the reduction of incapacity benefit to just £56 a week. This time, they plan to scrap it altogether. Even those who are among...

Whose benefit?

by Matthew Thompson, Stockport DWP PCS Branch Secretary (personal capacity) You might think that people claiming benefits would want to be able to speak to someone in a local office about their case. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) however claims that claimants now prefer to deal with call centres and fill out forms online. The drive to centralise benefit processing in a small number of large workplaces stems from the need to cut 30,000 jobs by 2008 as part of Gordon Brown’s plan to reduce the number of civil servants by 100,000. What then has been the response of the Public and...

Civil partnership brings benefit cuts

By David Broder The Civil Partnership Act coming in to force on 5 December comes with the pretensions of offering gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples. They will be able to take advantage of transferred pension rights and inheritance tax will be waived as it is for married couples. However, Outrage! and the Leeds disabled LGB group Rainbow Ripples have revealed that many poorer LGB couples will lose out. While the government is making concessions to wealthier LGB people, those on low incomes or who are disabled or elderly could have their benefits cut. For example, two...

Benefits Staff Fight Cuts

by Charlie McDonald, local PCS branch secretary Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members working in dole offices and jobcentres in London have voted for a series of strikes. The first may take place on 16 November. This is in response to savage job cuts being implemented by Chancellor Gordon Brown across the Civil Service. 100,000 jobs are to be cut. On top of this, work is being moved out of London. PCS is particularly concerned about the impact this will have on unemployment in black and minority ethnic communities. We are worried about increasing workload. There is the same amount...

Benefits and Jobcentre staff to strike over jobs

Charlie McDonald, PCS Department of Work and Pensions East London branch secretary Public and Commercial Services Union members working in Jobcentres and dole offices in London have voted for a series of strikes. The first is due to take place on 16 November. It is still possible the the PCS DWP Group Executive, dominated by the Socialist Party and their fellow travellers, will find some excuse to cancel the strike, possibly by arguing that it should be merged into proposals for national action on jobs at a future stage (which, contrary to the report in the 22 October edition of Socialist...

Benefits and Jobcentre staff set to strike

Charlie McDonald, PCSU DWP East London branch secretary Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members working in jobcentres and dole offices in London have voted for a series of strikes. The first strike is due to take place on 16th November. This is in response to a savage job cuts programme being implemented by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, across the Civil Service. 100,000 jobs are to be cut. On top of this, work is being moved out of London to the regions. PCS members are particularly concerned about the impact this will have on unemployment in black and minority ethnic communities...

Brown threat to unemployed

The Government is planning a new crackdown on unemployed people. The details of the proposals, described by Gordon Brown as "new rights matched by new responsibilities", have yet to be revealed. The drive is aimed at people who are, in the Government's view, "persistent offenders" - that is the long-term unemployed, many of whom are, apparently, failing to go on the Government's New Deal. People spend years on the dole for a number of good reasons: single parenting, chronic illness - but also, despite what the Government says, because there are no jobs available - especially in some inner city...

A chance to reconstruct

The rebellion by 61 Labour MPs on 10 December against the government’s cuts in lone parent benefit marks a decisive change in the political situation. The overwhelming majority of Labour’s core working-class supporters see the cuts as unjustifiable. “We didn’t vote for this!” sums up their mood. Even amongst those sections of the middle class who were supposed to be uniquely attracted to Blair, the cuts have produced a level of opposition that can only be explained by recognising the enduring strength of those collectivist values the spin-doctors told us had been abolished by Thatcherism. This...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.