What is really going on?

True or False

We have a welfare system because the better off want to take care of those who are poor or who have a disability.

True or False

False

• The welfare state exists because without it the modern world goes to hell - for everybody

• All of the elements of the welfare state were built by community: trade unions, local councils, co-ops, churches and local associations

• It took years of pressure, conflict and creativity to build the welfare state.

The modern world is so much wealthier that people no longer need a collective welfare system - we can all just look after ourselves.

True or False

False

• The modern world is even more insecure than the world of the 1940s.

• Older structures: the firm, the family, the community, the church are even weaker today than they were in in the 1940s.

• Economic wealth has only been created at the cost of growing insecurity and the instability of the modern economy.

We can trust democratic governments to work hard to ensure that the welfare state works well and benefits those who are most disadvantaged.

True or False

Pruitt Igoe Urban Housing Project: 1952-1968

False

• Central governments and large private organisations are incompetent at taking care of citizens, families or communities.

• Party politics focuses on the swing voters and the influential and powerful.

• Big systems increasingly serve the interests of those who run them - managers, share owners, politicians.

if you don’t believe this here are some facts and

figures…

The current system is a complex net of taxes and benefits that nobody understands but which leaves people fearful.

The real cost of benefits - after tax is very low indeed - most of the money goes on salaries

The poorest 10% of families pay the highest share of any group income in taxes - about 45%.

There are only a tiny number of people who do not work for years - the vast majority of people go out and look for work.

The current crisis has nothing to do with public expenditure - which has hardly changed over the last 40 years.

The real cause of the crisis was a collapse in banks who had invested in an enormous unsustainable housing bubble.

To protect homeowners the government slashed the cost of borrowing - creating a huge subsidy.

Government is now subsiding the mortgages of homeowners at a cost of over £34 billion per year.

The government has targeted cuts that fall hardest on those with the greatest needs - people with severe disabilities.

The cuts fall on people with disabilities and people in poverty far harder than they fall on any other groups.

We can trust government to take care of those who are most disadvantaged.

True or False

False

• Increasingly politicians are encouraging stigma - blaming the poor for poverty.

• People are looking for scapegoats - innocent victims who we can blame for our own errors.

• It is the groups who can least stick up for themselves that are getting the most stick.

The government’s planned welfare reforms will make things better.

True or False

FalseChild Benefit freeze Abolition of Sure Start Maternity for second and

subsequent children

Change to CPI indexation of benefits Reductions in support for carers

Replacing DLA with PIP Child Benefit clawback from higher rate taxpayers

Time-limiting of contributory ESA Transfer of Social Fund to local government

Council Tax Benefit – 10% reduction and localisation

Extension of JSA lone parents with a youngest child aged 5-6

Housing Benefit cuts Household Benefit cap

Abolition of the Independent Living Fund Continued use of ATOS or others

Universal Credit Reductions in ‘Access to Work’ funding

Closure of Remploy services Abolition of the Child Trust Fund

Tax credit changes Abolition of the Health in Pregnancy Grant

Abolition of the Child Trust Fund Abolition of the ESA youth rules

• The UK is the third most unequal developed country and getting more unequal.

• The UK is the second most centralised welfare state and getting more centralised.

• Per person the UK is the most indebted developed country in the world.

So

What is really going on?

We fell asleep. We forgot that they don’t take care of us, we take care of each other. We forgot that it’s the rich who need the poor, not the poor who need the rich. We forgot that politicians work for us, we don’t work for them. We forgot that government doesn’t innovate, people do. We forgot that government doesn’t create wealth, people do. We forgot that government doesn’t know best, people do. We forgot about citizenship, we forgot about families, we forgot about community. We confused good with big. We confused achievement with wealth. We confused love with control. We forgot that the welfare state was made by us, that it belongs to us and it needs to work for us. It’s time to wake up.

There is a better way.

True or False

TrueWe need a new settlement - a new

constitutional approach which protects our rights and shift power back to

citizens, families and local communities.

1. Human rights 2. Entitlements 3. Early support 4. Equal access 5. Choice & control 6. Fair incomes 7. Fair taxes 8. Sustainability

We can each make a difference.

True or False

Sign the WOW Petition Join the Campaign for a Fair Society Subscribe to the Centre for Welfare

Reform newsletter Connect up with people

Find your own way of making a difference

True

For more information: Web: www.centreforwelfarereform.org !Twitter: @CforWR and @simonjduffy !Blog: www.simonduffy.info !Facebook: centreforwelfarereform !Campaign: www.campaignforafairsociety.org !Petition: WOWpetition.com

© Simon Duffy. Rights Reserved. Full copyright details at www.centreforwelfarereform.org

Presentation by Dr Simon Duffy for Values Into Action Scotland on 6th November 2013 in Glasgow.