Do benefits encourage dysfunctional behaviour in the young

By Robert Winnett, Political Editor

10:00PM BST 24 Oct 2012

1396 Comments




Iain Duncan Smith will say that the current payment of benefits is supporting “dysfunctional behaviour” and that for some families “the notion of taking a job is a mug’s game”.


In his first major speech since publicly agreeing to draw up another £10 billion of benefits savings, the Work and Pensions Secretary will insist that the system must return to the principles of William Beveridge, the founder of the modern welfare state.


Mr Duncan Smith will say: “All too often, government’s response to social breakdown has been a classic case of 'patching’ — a case of handing money out, containing problems and limiting the damage but, in doing so, supporting — even reinforcing — dysfunctional behaviour.


“You have to ask which bits of the system are most important in changing lives. And you have to look at which parts of the system promote positive behaviours and which are actually promoting destructive ones.”

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He will highlight warnings from Beveridge, made almost 60 years ago, that those relying on benefits cannot hope to receive assistance “from a bottomless pit”.

“Especially so, when the economy isn’t growing as we had hoped, the public finances remain under pressure and the social outcomes have been so poor,” Mr Duncan Smith will add.

In his speech at Cambridge Public Policy, a think tank associated with the university, the minister will not provide firm examples of what further reforms are necessary to end the promotion of destructive behaviour. However, he will question whether it is acceptable that families on benefits continue to receive “never-ending amounts of money” for every child they have when families who are working often cannot afford to have more children.

In an interview with The Telegraph earlier this year, Louise Casey, the head of the Government’s troubled families unit, said that many of the people she was dealing with had too many children and were struggling to cope. She added that many of those receiving money for large families had drug and alcohol problems.

A government source said: “The benefits system is supposed to be a safety net — not a lifestyle choice to encourage people to have so many children they will always have to be dependent on the state.”

Mr Duncan Smith will also question whether young unemployed people should receive housing benefit when those working often have to live with their parents in their early twenties. The Prime Minister has already indicated that he will restrict housing benefit to those aged over 25 in the future.

Official figures show that 120,000 of the most troubled and difficult families cost the taxpayer about £9 billion a year. Every household is now spending the equivalent of £3,000 a year in tax for welfare payments.

There are about one in five households where no one works and 1.5 million children are growing up with a parent addicted to drugs or alcohol.

The culture of entrenched worklessness and dependency was not just a product of recession, Mr Duncan Smith will say.

The Government is planning to overhaul the benefits system with the imminent introduction of universal credit, which is designed to remove financial barriers for unemployed people wishing to return to work. He will describe the current system as one of “Byzantine complexity”.

“An exemption here, an addition there, all designed around the needs of the most dysfunctional and disadvantaged few,” the Work and Pensions Secretary will say. “Instead of supporting people in difficulty, the system all too often compounds that difficulty – doing nothing for those already facing the greatest problems, and dragging the rest down with it.”

Mr Duncan Smith will say that the poor use of government money in recent times has led to people being “written off”.

“Our failure to make each pound count has cost us again and again over the years, Not only in terms of a financial cost – higher taxes, inflated welfare bills and lower productivity, as people sit on benefits long term. But also the social cost of a fundamentally divided Britain – one in which a section of society has been left behind. We must no longer allow ourselves to accept that some people are written off.”

The Conservatives believe reforming the welfare system and cutting tens of billions from the annual cost will be a popular policy at the next election.

The Liberal Democrats are threatening to block further cuts in benefits unless the Coalition also introduces new taxes on the rich.

If the Government showed some vision and did not pay unemployment benefit to those who leave school without any GCSE's or O Levels unless they attend an apprenticeship course the benefits would be huge.

1. The Government pays the Firms offering apprenticeships.

2, The economy would have a ready made workforce when the recession improves.. It would stop the escalation of Foreigners into Britain .

3. The unemployed workshy would be forced to earn their benefit and keep them out of mischief.

4 The Government would not pay any benefit to any young girl who deliberately became pregnant to enjoy all the perks like , housing, unemployment benefit, child support etc.

The Benefit system is much abused and it is right to deter these youngsters from thinking the State has to take care of them. How many will have contributed to a state Pension when they retire?

THERE IS GOING TO BE A PROGRAMME CALLED ON BENEFITS AND PROUD OF IT.
SOUNDS GOOD