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Clegg - Those who cannot work must be protected
January 26, 2012 9:18 PM
I have always believed in a welfare system that helps those in need
Those who cannot work must be protected. And those who have jobs must be confident that, should they lose them, there is a safety net in place.
That is precisely why, in the Autumn Statement last year the Coalition committed to the full uprating for pensions and out-of-work benefits from April - 5.2%, in line with inflation. Not everyone agreed that "the unemployed" should receive the full uplift, certainly not in the current climate. And, if you believed everything you read, you would think that these benefits are, essentially, unlimited handouts for the 'idle poor'.
But that just shows what is so often wrong with this debate.
For one thing, for decades now benefits have been uprated in line with prices while earnings have generally increased at a faster rate. So the value of benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance have actually shrunk over the years compared with the incomes of those in work.
But, even more importantly, abuse of the benefits system by a minority has obscured the needs of a deserving majority.
The older people who have contributed to our society for their whole lives.
Those who cannot work due to disability or serious illness.
And - the group most often forgotten - working people who have been laid off, through no fault of their own. And, most often, for short periods of time.
Yes, sometimes the system is exploited - and that cannot be accepted. But the majority of people who claim JSA are off benefits within three months: people who pay their taxes, support their families, but are temporarily down on their luck. So we need a benefits system that helps those who can work into work.
And it is that simple principle that drives the Coalition's welfare reforms. From the Universal Credit, to the benefits cap, to the Work Programme and the Youth Contract.
While the economy was booming. We saw four and a half million people stuck on out-of-work benefits. The number of young and unemployed hardly changed. There are now 2.6m people on incapacity benefits. 900,000 of them have been parked there for 10 years or more. And where children grow up in homes where no one works they are twice as likely to experience long spells of unemployment themselves.
It isn't right; the country can't afford it. The Coalition is determined to see it change.
Nearly 70 years ago, when William Beveridge designed the welfare state he imagined a system that would give people protection from cradle to grave. Not one that would act as a crutch every day in between. The state must offer security in hard times.
But it should not, he warned, 'stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility'. In the words of another great liberal, John Stuart Mill, 'assistance should be a tonic - not a sedative'. I couldn't agree more.
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