Welfare Reform – Britain

Posted on February 17, 2011 by townsend

• Britain begins welfare overhaul, By Sarah Lyall, February 17, 2011, New York Times: “The British government on Thursday introduced legislation that it said would simplify and reduce the cost of the country’s welfare system, saying that it wanted to change a culture in which people on welfare risk losing income if they find jobs. Calling his proposals ‘the most ambitious, fundamental and radical changes to the welfare system since it began,’ after World War II, Prime Minister David Cameron said in a speech here that they were based on a simple idea: ‘Never again will work be the wrong financial choice…'”
• Welfare reform: Find a job or lose benefits, mothers to be told, By Patrick Wintour, February 17, 2011, The Guardian: “All stay at home mothers claiming the government’s new universal credit will be required to make themselves available for work or lose state support, putting them on a par with single parents for the first time. The requirement would apply to mothers with children aged over seven. The proposals came in the government’s welfare bill published on Thursday and were hailed by David Cameron as ‘tough, radical … but fair’. His remarks came as ministers published a raft of figures alongside the bill, for the first time showing the full impact of the introduction of universal credit and other welfare cutbacks announced by ministers. The figures show 1.7m households will lose out from the universal credit reforms…”
• Welfare reform: ‘most radical shake-up for 60 years’, By Randeep Ramesh, February 17, 2011, The Guardian: “Iain Duncan Smith’s radical welfare bill, perhaps the most significant reshaping of the welfare state in 60 years, aims to simplify the system of subsidies that covers everything from income support to housing benefit to sickness payments. For the government the aim is to remove the benefit traps that see some people lose 90p in every extra pound they earn as means-tested benefits are withdrawn. The new system will be paid for by deep cuts in welfare, as ministers push through savings of £18bn over the next four years. There are signs of an unseemly rush to push through the bill, with details on a new child maintenance scheme published two months before a consultation on the issue is finished…”