BBC News | Politics | Welfare finds a 'third way'


Front Page

UK

World

Business

Sci/Tech

Sport

Despatches

World News in Audio

On Air



Talking Point

Feedback

Low Graphics

Help

Site Map

Thursday, March 26, 1998 Published at 22:51 GMT

UK: Politics

Welfare finds a 'third way'
image: [ In reviewing the welfare state, the Government has said it would 'think the unthinkable' ]

In reviewing the welfare state, the Government has said it would 'think the unthinkable'

Sweeping changes to overhaul the welfare state have been published by the Government, based on the principles of "work for those who can, security for those who cannot".

The Social Security Minister, Frank Field, announced the plan to the House of Commons, the result of ten months of review, in which he was encouraged by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to "think the unthinkable".

[ image: Mr Field announcing his proposals, flanked by Social Security Secretary Harriet Harman]
Mr Field announcing his proposals, flanked by Social Security Secretary Harriet Harman
Mr Field said the proposals were based on the twin pillars of work and security, and would not repeat the failings of the current welfare state.

He told MPs that the current system had "led to growing poverty and dependence, not independence. It has fuelled social division and exclusion, not helped in the creation of a decent society".

Frank Field announcing his proposals to the House of Commons(1'11')
He said: "There are two no-go areas for this Government. Our commitment to the vulnerable is not negotiable. Likewise, our commitment to reform is not negotiable."

He added: "The Green Paper is a Third Way: not an end of the welfare state or a defence of the status quo, but a welfare state to meet modern needs, which supports a decent and fair society founded on social justice."

Key proposals in Mr Field's Green Paper include:

Ending the 16-hour limit on the amount of unpaid work disabled people on benefit could do
Showing the poorest pensioners how to get greater help
People who take out insurance for car or credit car loans in case they lose their job would no longer be penalised by losing benefit
Fundamental reforming the Child Support Agency
Publishing a new Green Paper to expand childcare
Setting up a Disability Rights Commission to protect the rights of disabled people
Giving help to people on Incapacity Benefit to return to work
Cracking down on benefit fraud, which he admitted might sound "draconian"
Establishing a welfare state by 2020 in which the duties of Government were matched by those of the individual

Introducing the document to the Cabinet, Mr Blair said: "I have always said welfare reform was one of the big projects by which this Government would rightly be judged," he said.

[ image: Single parents are one of many groups who could be affected by the plans]
Single parents are one of many groups who could be affected by the plans
Shadow Social Security Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "What we have seen here is a series of missed opportunities." He said the Green Paper was "vacuous" and avoided giving details which, he said, was evidence that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, had won a "behind-the-scenes battle" with Mr Field.

The document is the third stage in the Government's bid to reform welfare since the General Election. It comes soon after the Budget, which reshaped incentives to work, and several months after the New Deal to get young unemployed back to work was launched on the back of a Ł3.5bn windfall tax.

The reforms were made necessary by a spiralling social security budget which now takes up close to a third of all government spending.


	Relevant Stories 26 Mar 98 \| UK Benefit fraud 'massive and inexcusable' 26 Mar 98 \| UK The thorny question of welfare reform



	Internet Links Department of Social Security The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.