What sort of welfare state does James Purnell want?

 

I’m instinctively well disposed to James Purnell’s attempts to bolster public support for the welfare state. But I can’t help noticing that he sounds quite muddled on the subject.

In his Times article (paywall) on Wednesday the former Work and Pensions Secretary spoke of his desire to “go back to Beveridge” and the principle that “everyone would put something in, and everyone would get something out”.

But then he comes out with this:

“I have never bought the argument that universal benefits bind the middle classes in. It feels too much like taxing with one hand to give back with another.”

But the case for all those middle class perks like child benefit (which are paid for through general taxation)  is that they help to build that ethos of everyone putting in and everyone getting out. The argument is that if welfare is only used by the poor or unfortunate general public support for the system will dwindle.

What sort of welfare state does James Purnell want? | Ben Chu | Independent Eagle Eye Blogs

New website ‘megaphone’ for public

 

Downing Street’s defunct online petition page has been replaced with a new website that will give the public a "megaphone" to make themselves heard.

Commons Leader Sir George Young said any campaign on the site that was backed by 100,000 signatures would trigger consideration for debate in Parliament.

It will be up to the Commons backbench business committee to assess all petitions that qualify and decide whether they should be given time from the 35 days it is allocated each session for non-governmental business.

No 10′s e-petition site was suspended ahead of the general election then shelved by the coalition.

New website ‘megaphone’ for public | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Council leader calls for action on bed-blocking

 

THE leader of Oxfordshire County Council last night admitted Oxfordshire’s social care system was “just about bust”.

Keith Mitchell expressed sympathy for an Alzheimer’s sufferer who became a victim of the county’s bed-blocking crisis after he was stuck in a hospital ward for 12 weeks despite being fit enough to go home.

Mr Mitchell spoke out after the Oxford Mail highlighted how 78-year-old Peter Maudling, from Bicester, was twice confined to a John Radcliffe Hospital bed for weeks on end as he waited for social services to draw up new care plans.

click link for full article

Council leader calls for action on bed-blocking (From The Oxford Times)

Letter to Employment Minister on release of benefit claimant statistics – UK Parliament

 

The Chair of the Commons Work and Pensions has today written to the Minister for Employment Chris Grayling expressing serious concerns at the most recent misrepresentation of DWP statistics on benefit claimants in some sections of the media yesterday and today, after the committee also published a report yesterday which covered, among other things, concerns over the way releases of official statistics about the incapacity benefit reassessment process have been covered in the media in the past.

click link below for full details

Letter to Employment Minister on release of benefit claimant statistics – UK Parliament

Disability charity slams benefits assessment after MPs report

 

Disability rights campaigners have hit out at a report by MPs which concluded the process used to decide claimants’ eligibility for benefits is working well.

Disability Alliance said it was disappointed with the committee’s apparent conclusions and disputed its findings citing the increased number of decision appeals and complaints.

The statement came following the release of the latest set of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claims data which showed only 24% of claimants are successful.

Disability charity slams benefits assessment after MPs report – IFAonline

Paul Gregg, Bristol University – Centre for Market and Public Organisation

 

Paul Gregg

Department for Work and Pensions figures released this week suggest that only 7% of applicants for the new disability benefit, Employment Support Allowance (ESA), during the two years since its inception, are found unfit for work. The implicit suggestion is that the previous regime was widely abused by ‘scroungers and malingerers’. Yet the total number of claims for disability related workless benefits is almost exactly the same, at 2.6 million, in the latest data (November 2010) as it was in 2008, when the new benefit started. Even among claims less than two years old and hence all assessed under the new regime there are 640,000 claimants, which is exactly the same as in 2008. So, how can the impression of a big crackdown on claims under the new test, and the absence of any decline in numbers claiming be reconciled?

The answer is three fold.

click link for full article

Bristol University | Centre for Market and Public Organisation | CMPO Viewpoint Blog

Carer, 90, supports disabled son in Ashby-de-la-Zouch

 

A 90-year-old carer from Leicestershire is concerned about what will happen to his disabled son when he is no longer able to support him.

Alf Winter lives in sheltered housing in Ashby-de-la-Zouch with 55-year-old Keith, who has cerebral palsy.

The pensioner is one of an estimated 77,000 carers over the age of 65 who live in the East Midlands.

"There’s nobody else to do it. It’s just perseverance – I get on and do it," said Mr Winter.

BBC News – Carer, 90, supports disabled son in Ashby-de-la-Zouch

BBC goes along with govt spoiling tactic on disabled people

 

Every month the Dept for Work and Pensions put out statistics purporting to show that few benefit claimants are ‘unfit to work’, with a juicy quote from a minister saying how terrible this is.

Today, the timing is immaculate: the BBC give it a higher billing than the report scathing about the Work Capability Assessment.

‘Only 7% of people claiming sickness benefits were unable to do any sort of work’, the BBC claim that ‘new figures have shown’. This is a monthly press release.
It also uses a statistical sleight of hand to misrepresent the proportion found fit for work. It is usually taken up by the tabloids, who then go through their usual routine of vilification.

The DWP press release regularly insinuates that the 36% of claimants who ‘dropped out of the application process’ were among those found ‘fit for work’, when that proportion of claimants have ceased their claims early for many years.

click link below to read full article on Liberal Conspiracy

BBC goes along with govt spoiling tactic on disabled people | Liberal Conspiracy

Merton, Nottinghamshire and Bury issue smart cards for social care

 

Three councils have begun to issue smart cards for social care recipients to pay for services under the personalised budget agenda.

Merton, Nottinghamshire and Bury councils have done deals with Advanced Payment Solutions (APS) to supply the cards.

Merton introduced the cards at the beginning of July under a three year contract with APS and had issued more than 30 in the first three weeks of the month. It is planning to make about 500 available to people who receive direct payments from the council, followed by a roll out to all of its 2,200 social care customers.

click link below to read in full

Merton, Nottinghamshire and Bury issue smart cards for social care | Guardian Government Computing | Guardian Professional

Bristol Socialism: BADACA: Campaign Against Social Care Cuts

 

Last Monday’s BADACA meeting and the two lobbies of the City Council have laid the foundations for a concerted campaign against the council’s threats to close homes and day care facilities for the elderly and vulnerable while at the same time threatening funding to voluntary organisations which provide vital services to these people and their families.

Workers at the council-run services turned out to tell councillors what they thought of these plans. So did workers and representatives of threatened voluntary sector organisations and users of the services. Leading LibDem councillors were uncomfortable facing criticism of their plans. They will need to get used to it because there’s plenty more to come.

At the BADACA meeting on Monday 1^st August representatives of service users and workers will report on activities so far. It will be an opportunity to plan the next stage of the campaign to protect social care services in the city from the council’s threatened cuts. Details are below – please try to come along and pass the information on to anyone you know who is effected by these threatened cuts.

click link below for story in full

Bristol Socialism: BADACA: Campaign Against Social Care Cuts