UK govt to stop welfare cash for some unemployed

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The British government unveiled a radical shake-up of the welfare state Thursday, saying it would withhold benefit payments for up to three years from those who refuse to take jobs.

Prime Minister David Cameron's government wants to introduce a sliding scale of penalties for those who either decline a job offer, fail to apply for a job they are advised to or do not turn up for mandatory four-week work placements.

The weekly 65 pound unemployment benefit will be withheld for three months from those who violate any of the three conditions.

That would rise to six months for a second violation and three years for a third, aides said.

The announcement came as Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith prepared to give details of the universal credit, a single welfare payment which officials say will simplify the current complex benefits system and make two and a half million people better off.

Cameron's coalition government, which took power in May, describes the plans as the most radical since the wide-ranging welfare state was put in place just after World War II.

Welfare now accounts for roughly a third of government spending.

Explaining the plans for a "claimant contract", Cameron said: "It simply has to pay to work. You can't have a situation where if someone gets out of bed and goes and does a hard day's work they end up worse off.

"That's not fair. And it sends entirely the wrong message, both to those on benefits and to the hard-working majority who are being asked to support them," said Cameron, who is in South Korea for a G20 summit in Seoul.

Some have criticised the government's proposals on welfare, which ministers hope will be approved by parliament and made law next year.

Earlier this week, the leader of the world's Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said he had a "lot of worries" about proposals to make long-term claimants of unemployment benefit carry out month-long placements of 30 hours a week doing unpaid tasks like clearing litter.

"People who are struggling to find work and struggling to find a secure future are I think driven further into a sort of downward spiral of uncertainty, even despair when the pressure's on in that way," he told the BBC.

Aides stressed that the "claimant contract" scheme was not "100 percent inflexible" and that some people could be exempt if they had an "incredibly good excuse".

Under the existing system, claimants who do not cooperate with officials can lose their unemployment benefit for 26 weeks maximum but aides insisted that this rarely happened.

Around 1.5 million people currently claim unemployment benefit, formally known as jobseekers' allowance.

Welfare was one of the areas hit hard by the deepest public spending cuts in decades which Cameron's Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced last month.

It is battling to reduce a record deficit of 154.7 billion pounds inherited from the previous administration under Labour's Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.913b97e7bdf382c1ecbfe15f2f7b8926.171&show_article=1

[Utah_Bound 0]

Its about time somebody had the nerve to do it. I agree, why should hard working folks be made to pay for those that sit around all day claiming welfare? Back before I moved to the USA, I knew countless people that had been on unemployment for years, looking for jobs put being picky about what they did, discussing this while sat in the pub on a saturday afternoon hoping their horse comes in.

It was like back in the 1980's where they had YTS for those under 18 with no job, they will get to learn a trade that will hopefully put them back into the job market with better qualifications than they had when they first went onto unemployment.

Unemployment benefit should not be a long term solution to sitting idely by. here in the USA, unemployement is paid for a limited time only then thats it, your on your own. Maybe if schoolgirls stopped getting pregnant at 15/16 so they can spend the rest of their lives on welfare, immigrants stopped working the system while working "Cash-In-Hand", there would be more money in the coffers for those that really need it rather than those that dont but milk the system dry.

[Heracles 417]

I believe the UK has indefinite unemployment payments as does AUS, so this is just common sense. Conservatives implemented this in AUS a good 12+ years ago and it starts from 6 months of being unemployed. We [conservatives] actually do stuff in AUS, than just talk about pointless cuts or block anything the other party does.

[Danno 1,228]

I believe the UK has indefinite unemployment payments as does AUS, so this is just common sense. Conservatives implemented this in AUS a good 12+ years ago and it starts from 6 months of being unemployed. We [conservatives] actually do stuff in AUS, than just talk about pointless cuts or block anything the other party does.

Not only are you wrong about talk only.... you and your country's reform were simply following our lead. (as usual)

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

A bi-partisan effort I might add.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_Reform_Act_of_1996

Edited November 12, 2010 by Danno

[Utah_Bound 0]

Not only are you wrong about talk only.... you and your country's reform were simply following our lead. (as usual)

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

A bi-partisan effort I might add.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_Reform_Act_of_1996

I dont believe he was referring to the USA, the topic is about the UK and thats what he was refering to. As for your ignorant comments about following your lead, what country now is trying to bring free health care to the masses? Which country has twice extended unemployment benefits for 99 weeks? Jeez next time chill out and read what the poster is saying before you jump in with the "We did it first and you all follow" comments.