I know we are wandering away slightly from the subject matter on this thread, but I think there are a couple of important points we need to consider when discussing the welfare system and particularly benefit payments. Firstly, IMHO I think meaningful full employment (jobs where employees feel valued, not zero hours contracts) in the UK under a global free market system is a pipe dream. Secondly, two of the biggest drains on the benefits expenditure are Working Tax Credit (WTC) and Housing Benefit (HB). Approx 20 per cent of housing benefit claimants are in work and of course 100 per cent of WTC claimants are in employment. HB is not paid to the claimants, but to their landlords who set the rents and in many cases are wealthy owners of numerous properties exploiting the system. WTC is paid to the employees of some of the richest international companies in the world and awards are made irrespective of the Employers/businesses’ profits, in effect we as taxpayers are subsidising their wages. Damn right there is a benefits culture. As I have said already, I accept that there is a hardcore of unemployed work-shy, but the stick without the carrot approach will simply not work. Previous governments failed and so will this one in my opinion. Interestingly, we are told that many of the measures introduced under the welfare cuts will ‘make work pay’ yet employed claimants of HB are not exempt from ‘bedroom tax’ penalties, to highlight one disincentive example.
