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(189) redesigning welfare (disability wales, october 2011)
The document discusses the need for welfare reform in the UK, emphasizing that while the welfare state is beneficial, it is currently designed to be discriminatory and complex, particularly affecting disabled individuals. It highlights the negative impacts of recent cuts to social care and direct income, arguing that these cuts perpetuate existing inequalities and undermine the rights and dignity of vulnerable groups. A proposed campaign aims to promote a fair society with guaranteed rights and improved support for all citizens, especially those with disabilities.
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(189) redesigning welfare (disability wales, october 2011)
- 1. Real Welfare Reform Redesigning the Welfare State to Increase Social Justice Talk for Disability Wales - October 2011
- 2. Dr Simon Duffy • Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform - genuinely independent R&D network based in Sheffield • ‘Invented’ Individual Budgets and Self-Directed Support • Founded Inclusion Glasgow, In Control, Shop4Support and many other charities and social enterprises • Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University of Birmingham’s Health Service Management Centre • Policy advisor to The Campaign for a Fair Society • Lives in Sheffield
- 3. The basic proposition 1.The Welfare State is a good thing - it’s just designed wrong 2. The current unfair cuts target disabled people 3. This reflects a repeated pattern of discrimination against disabled people 4. Its time to start building a broad alliance for a fairer system and a fair society
- 4. The welfare stateis good... • We need a collective system of income security and rights • The post-war welfare state was a great achievement • The conditions that make the welfare state necessary have increased not diminished
- 5. ... but it’sdesigned wrong • Designed in a paternalistic and industrial age • It’s current design stigmatises and damages the poorest • It’s complexity and obscurity undermines citizenship for everyone • Let’s not just hark back - let’s build something better
- 6. Example 01: ThePoverty Net
- 7. The poverty netmeans • 137 different ways to give people not very much • UK is the 3rd most unequal developed country • Confused: linked, means-tested, disability-related, family-sensitive or NOT • 100% tax on earning, 25%+ tax on families, taxes on savings • The poorest 10% pay the highest share of income in tax: 46.6%
- 8. The poverty netmeans Teresa Perchard , Director of Social Policy, Citizens Advice: “Citizens Advice acknowledges that the £1.5 billion cost of fraud in the benefit system must be recovered, but we are very concerned at the government’s persistent tendency to roll fraud and error figures together. Errors account for the remaining £3.7 billion of the £5.2 billion figure quoted... “In the meantime, the £5 billion cost to government through fraud and error is dwarfed by the £17 billion of benefits and tax credits that remain un-claimed every year, because people don’t know they are entitled to claim, or because the system is too complicated.” In other words: The government defrauds the poor at more than 11 times the rate at which the poor defraud the government
- 9. Example 02: SocialCare • Weak and confused entitlements • Funding for segregated services not for people • Citizens are not in control of their own lives
- 10. ... and so,citizen-directed support • Current efforts to revise the old system • Some success in promoting control and creativity • Limited by legal framework and other rigidities My My Budget: Supp ort Plan £ Clarify Entitlement Plan Together Support in Community Focus on Outcomes Resource Allocation System (RAS) £
- 11. The current cutstarget disabled people
- 12. Its organised asa pincer attack: • Cuts to social care • that can be blamed on local or national governments • Cuts in direct income • that can be hidden within efforts to ‘reform’ the current system
- 13. Attack 01: socialcare cuts Approximately 1.5 million children and adults, including older people, receive social care each year in the UK because of significant disabilities. This group face social care cuts from: • Cuts to local government funding and funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. • Cuts to Supporting People funding • Termination of Independent Living Fund Note that: • Local government, by 2014, will have been cut by 20% • Social care is biggest role for local government (c. 40%) • 34% of all cuts fell on local government (excluding education) despite accounting for only 5% of government spending • over the long-run local government funding has been behind other public services
- 14. Central control -local weakness... UK is the most centralised welfare state in the world
- 15. social care cutswill mean: • Increases in eligibility thresholds - so some people stop getting support • Increases in charges - so people who are already poor will lose even more direct income • Cuts to local services, especially community organisations • Reduction in wages for staff • Reductions in individual budget levels • Attempts to rationalise services or contract out to private providers - limiting choice and damaging markets • Attempts to limit flexibility of how people can use their budgets - damaging creativity • Less preventive support - increasing crises and expensive placements
- 16. Attack 02: directincome cuts Benefits, tax credits and pensions take up c.£185 billion per year, c. 18% of GDP. The major changes planned include: • Rolling income support benefits into Universal Credit • Rolling disability benefits into Personal Independent Payments • Cuts to Housing Benefit and Mortgage Interest Relief Already: • £6 billion a year to be saved by weaker indexation • Stricter medical tests delivered by ‘incentivised’ provider (ATOS) • Planned reductions in hyper-taxation on poor will be paid for by reducing benefit incomes rather than increasing DWP spending NB: The poor can be very poor indeed - the poorest must live on £2,780 per year - compared to mean household income of £50,000 per year (<6%).
- 17. Benefit (£ billions) 10/11 (mn) PA Retirement Pension £72.4 protected 12,509,000 £5,787 Tax Credits £24.0 protected 7,200,000 £3,333 Housing Benefit £21.5 vulnerable 4,750,000 £4,530 Disability Living Allowance £12.5 vulnerable 3,214,000 £3,879 Attendance Allowance £5.4 vulnerable 1,635,000 £3,325 Child Benefit £11.0 questionable 7,200,000 £1,528 Income Support £5.8 vulnerable 1,746,000 £3,301 Pension Credit £7.7 vulnerable 2,664,000 £2,880 Council tax benefits £4.1 vulnerable 5,794,000 £705 Jobseeker’s Allowance £4.8 questionable 1,402,000 £3,453 Carer’s Allowance £1.0 vulnerable 566,000 £1,767 ESA + IB £6.9 questionable 2,469,000 £2,782 Independent Living Fund £0.2 terminated 21,000 £9,524 TOTAL £177.245 2010-11 Figures from DWP for major benefits - child benefit and tax credits from other sources
- 18. Why do thecuts target disabled people?
- 19. Not just cuts- but targeted cuts Protected Cut Pensions Disability benefits Healthcare Social Care Education Social Housing £350 billion out of £500 £40 billion Universal, mainstream, for Special, marginal, ‘the ‘ordinary people like us’ poor & unfortunate’ Delivered by nationalised Delivered by complex systems with high visibility systems with low visibility
- 20.
- 21. Tax Paid (%) Net Income 50% £70,000 £60,000 40% £50,000 30% £40,000 £30,000 20% £20,000 10% £10,000 0% £0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles
- 22. This is along-standing issue 1. No constitutional guarantees for citizenship - we have weak rights and only hazy responsibilities placed on multiple public bodies 2. No natural justice - the courts apply ‘natural justice’ to define entitlements, but public bodies simply ration on the basis of ‘equitable charity’ 3. No support for families - families have to reach breaking point in order to be entitled to support, and then they are treated as ‘carers’ 4. No control guaranteed - funding is guaranteed to providers, but not to people, even with direct payments control is often limited 5. No housing rights - many people end up in institutional settings, with no housing rights, no privacy or control over who they live with 6. No decent incentives - the current benefit system punishes families, savers, earners and disabled people 7. No universality - means-testing or charges are just an extra tax on groups who are already poor, this leads to many people making themselves poorer just to ensure they become entitled to social care
- 23. from the professionalgift to citizenship
- 24. The Campaign fora Fair Society • Beginnings - began on 8th February 2011 by people horrified at the likely impact of the Spending Review • Members - Over 1,000 individuals and 100 organisations are members. • UK-wide - There are Scottish, Welsh & English Steering Groups - connected federally in a UK group. • Communications - information on web, twitter, facebook etc - www.campaignforafairsociety.org
- 25. Core Values Everyone is equal,no matter their differences or disabilities. A fair society sees each of its members as a full citizen - a unique person with a life of their own. A fair society is organised to support everyone to live a full life, with meaning and respect.
- 27. Scottish Campaign Manifesto- 7 Commitments 1. to human rights 2. to make the entitlement to support an objective right defined in law 3. to provide families and individuals with early support 4. to put people back in control of their own life 5. to good housing 6. to a guaranteed minimum income free from means-testing 7. to end the current super-tax on older and disabled people levied through local authority charges
- 28. It is timeto campaign against unfair cuts and for a fair society
- 29. Decile Number Income plus Benefits less Taxes Net Income Tax 1st 2,528,000 £2,043.00 £4,592.00 £3,092.00 £3,543.00 46.6% 2nd 2,528,000 £3,738.00 £7,287.00 £3,274.00 £7,751.00 29.7% 3rd 2,530,000 £7,464.00 £7,431.00 £4,642.00 £10,253.00 31.2% 4th 2,527,000 £11,387.00 £7,702.00 £6,155.00 £12,934.00 32.2% 5th 2,529,000 £18,354.00 £5,969.00 £8,656.00 £15,667.00 35.6% 6th 2,530,000 £26,523.00 £4,093.00 £10,978.00 £19,638.00 35.9% 7th 2,529,000 £33,862.00 £3,656.00 £13,379.00 £24,139.00 35.7% 8th 2,525,000 £43,552.00 £2,743.00 £16,710.00 £29,585.00 36.1% 9th 2,531,000 £56,842.00 £2,310.00 £20,833.00 £38,319.00 35.2% 10th 2,531,000 £100,138.00 £1,958.00 £35,271.00 £66,825.00 34.5% Mean £30,390.30 £4,774.10 £12,299.00 £22,865.40 35.3% Sum 25,288,000 Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles
- 30. Decile Number Adjustment Cost Contribution Services Net Use Balance 1st 2,528,000 £1,500 £3,792,000,000 £4,314 -£1,675 -£175 2nd 2,528,000 £4,013 £10,144,864,000 £4,854 -£1,135 £2,878 3rd 2,530,000 £2,789 £7,056,170,000 £5,503 -£486 £2,303 4th 2,527,000 £1,547 £3,909,269,000 £5,839 -£150 £1,397 5th 2,529,000 -£2,687 £6,795,423,000 £6,025 £36 -£2,651 6th 2,530,000 -£6,885 £17,419,050,000 £5,908 -£81 -£6,966 7th 2,529,000 -£9,723 £24,589,467,000 £6,281 £292 -£9,431 8th 2,525,000 -£13,967 £35,266,675,000 £6,733 £744 -£13,223 9th 2,531,000 -£18,523 £46,881,713,000 £7,473 £1,484 -£17,039 10th 2,531,000 -£33,313 £84,315,203,000 £6,958 £969 -£32,344 Mean -£7,525 £5,989 Sum 25,288,000 £24,902,303,000 £215,267,531,000 £151,444,774,400 Surplus £38,920,453,600 Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles
- 31. Household Income 1st Decile Adjusted Share Income 2043 3424 39% Retirement pension 2463 2048 23% Job seeker's allowance (Contribution based) 61 72 1% Incapacity benefit 268 285 3% Widows' benefits 59 35 0% Statutory Maternity Pay/Allowance 3 5 0% Income support and pension credit 468 651 7% Child benefit 87 422 5% Housing benefit 650 755 9% Job seeker's allowance (Income based) 100 129 1% Carer's allowance 9 36 0% Attendance allowance 7 2 0% Disability Living Allowance 144 204 2% War pensions/War widows' pensions 11 2 0% Severe disablement allowance 2 1 0% Industrial injury disablement benefit - 2 0% Student support 26 73 1% Government training schemes 3 3 0% Tax credits 73 564 6% Other non-contributory benefits 158 107 1% Gross income 6635 8820 Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles