Face it, the welfare state is unsustainable
11 December 2008

No effort, no benefit, Labour tells jobless:

After a year out of a job people will be assigned to a private or voluntary provider appointed by the Government to help people back into work. They will be expected at that point to do four weeks’ full-time activity to get them back into a 9-to-5 routine.

If they are still unemployed after two years they would have to work full time, doing community jobs such as street-cleaning, volunteering or work experience to help people to keep the habit of working.

…

Others who refuse to take part in schemes to help them into work could lose up to a week’s benefit. Those with debt or drug problems will be expected to sign up to counselling.

Incapacity benefit is being phased out and will be replaced by the employment and support allowance, which includes a medical assessment for new claimants.

Brendan Barber, the TUC General Secretary, said: “At a time of rapidly rising unemployment, the Government needs to stop talking as if every benefit claimant is a potential scrounger. People losing their jobs need practical help as quickly as possible.”

I saw a report on this plan on the teevee last night, too. The benefits claimants were pretty indignant. Here’s a wake up call: the government needs to consider the lowest of the low, so they need to take into account the dole bludger who is screwing the taxpayer.

Someone who has been unemployed for a long time and is claiming benefit should prove that they aren’t playing the system. This is not an issue. Only those who have found it more profitable to claim benefit (and/or work cash in hand) than find a job will lose out — so what the hell is wrong with this new policy?

(Besides, it’s not as if it will be implemented immediately. They can rape the system for a few months yet.)

Updated to add: Claiming benefits: Your stories — everyone quoted in this follow-up piece is a legitimate claimant, which changes my opinion not one bit.

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