welfare reform

Alex Attwood, Northern Irelands Social Development minster has told David Freud, the new work programme will not work in Northern Ireland. Mr Attwood claimed there are big differences between Belfast and London. The Social Development minister put forward three reasons to why the work programme would not work in Northern Ireland.

Whitehall sources have told the Observer that officials at the Treasury asked officials at the Department for Work and Pensions to ‘redo their sums’ as the plans put forward for welfare and benefit reform would either cost billions or disadvantage too many people. There is speculation that Iain Duncan Smith has gone directly to No 10, with the suggestion of means testing child benefit in order to pay for the changes.  

The Government’s welfare reforms will steadily increase jobless figures to about 3m by 2014, according to the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, reports the Financial Times.

An article in the Economist talks about the difficulty of implementing Welfare Reform to end welfare dependency as ‘improving incentives to work can actually cost money, at least in the short term.’ The article argues that withdrawing benefits more slowly from those who find work is expensive.

The eclectic think tank, Demos, has today published a collection of essays which argues that Government should aggressively focus the welfare state on its core purpose of getting people back into work rather than treating the benefits system as a catch-all for every social problem - such as family breakdown, child development and community cohesion. The authors and editors of the pamphlet “Liberation Welfare” argue for a welfare system that reduces dependency, empowers claimants and gets away from an old agenda based on reciprocal “rights and responsibilities”.

DWP has announced that long-term JSA claimants will be "guaranteed a job or work placement" as part of the Government’s next stage of welfare reform. There will be revisions to the Work Capability Assessment and Incapacity Benefit will be phased out by 2014.

As ever, I'd suggest reading the entire executive summary of the skills review, even if not the entire document as there are almost 160 pages! A lot of content throughout, and interesting to read in the light of the recent National Skills Strategy announced only a few weeks ago.

'Learner accounts' and more information for employers, as well as those currently employed, are amongst the initiatives that may ring familiar. Published a year before the Freud Report, looking at welfare to work as a whole and changing the focus and landscape of the industry, this review should definitely be read in its context.

Yesterday I met with Jim Knight MP in Parliament to talk about a number of topics surrounding the welfare to work industry. A very pleasant, well-informed and open interviewee, the Employment Minister found time to answer a number of questions put to him by readers of Indus Delta. The following is not in direct quote form, but a summary of what the Minister had to say on each topic.

Updated 17/12 - DWP published their White Paper on Tuesday, aimed at 'Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment'. I've had a good read through, and would defnitely recommend reading the summary which is here, as it really is full of content. The summary below is made up of useful excerpts I've picked out from the White Paper, including a bit of background to set out what the Bill is being based on.

Overall, there are a lot of reforms set out here, including more information on skills accounts, 'better off in work' credit, and additional plans to tackle youth unemployment. There is also a lot in there for working families, lone parents, carers, and people with disabilities. This White Paper is by no means a short-term plan to fend off the recession, but outlines reform in all key areas - more powers to Jobcentre Plus staff, Housing Benefit reform, a review of Pathways to Work, and an aim to work back up towards full employment.

This is, hopefully, a fairly useful summary of the key points of the 2007 Freud Report in quote form. I've kept them in this format as the report is actually very clear in itself, and doesn't really need too much picking apart in the way that some others do. I would definitely recommend reading it in full if you have the time/interest.

This was indirectly referenced in a newswire a couple of weeks back, but the CBI website has videos of some of your favourite welfare to work managers talking about reform. The report itself is over here.

The Welfare Reform Act that's been trundling through Parliament for the past year or two finally made it into law last week, accompanied by a distinct lack of press coverage. The text of the act is available here, but it's difficult to translate out of legalese and into English.

Following a rash of stories about contract fraud and failure in the press earlier this year, the Work and Pensions Select Committee announced an inquiry into the management and administration of contracted employment programmes. Interested parties were invited to make submissions.

David Freud and Theresa May popped up at a number of events this week. Possibly the most informative appearance was by Freud at the Social Market Foundation's event on Wednesday, where their plans for existing and future contracts started to come into focus.