Health & Social Services

Q. The Benefits System ? Discussing Possible Solutions? Tell us your thoughts.

This is one of the biggest problems we face; it is also one of the most difficult problems to solve.

The benefit system has gone completely haywire. When Mr Beveridge set up the very first employment and social protection scheme, he couldn?t have possibly have imagined that his fantastic intentions it would end up being the present day dog?s dinner.

The facts are startling; 2.7 million people on incapacity benefit, up from 780,000 from 1997.

45,000 more babies born to single mothers than would have not been born had it not been for the benefits available. A single mother is almost guaranteed somewhere to live paid for by the taxpayers for life.

The unemployed get more benefit money if they have a dog.

Recent figures show conclusively that couples with children are thousands of pounds better off if they live apart. During the same week figures were also produced showing that children have a much more stable and crime-free childhood when they are brought up by two parents.

These types of problems are going to take years to sort out. By giving out these sorts of benefits the government are (1) encouraging people not to work and (2) encouraging children to be brought up in a single parent environment.

There are now towns and cities where more than 50% of the population are on incapacity or single parent benefits.

The single parent issue is possibly the easiest to solve. If you take away the incentive to have children then it will probably take away the thousands of young girls who fall pregnant just because they need somewhere to live.

The USA was faced with a similar problem in the late 1980?s and early 1990?s. The politicians decided to tackle the problem head on. As part of a giant welfare bill the Republican Party produced a bill, which basically said that child benefit for single mothers, which included housing, stopped after two years. At the time there was a republican majority in the Senate, however it was anticipated that the republicans would still have great problems in getting this part of the bill through. The liberals were up in arms and stated they would fight tooth and nail to get this clause taken out of the bill.

Shortly after the bill was published Bill Clinton, a democrat, became president. Most commentators thought that he would veto this part of the bill. Instead he actually endorsed the proposal to the dismay of most of his party. It duly passed into USA law and the effect has been to cut the birth of children to single parent families dramatically. A very right-wing commentator from the Heritage Foundation in the USA recently wrote that he had changed is mind about the way Clinton made this policy work. If you want to read the article then click on http://www.heritage.org/press/commentary/ed082406a.cfm

So it can be done. Why don?t we try? We have to do something.

If this is too much for our current politicians to swallow then maybe another way to start the process would be to stop child benefit after the 2nd or 3rd child. This, would at least stop the families who breed simply to live.

Incapacity benefit is much more of a financial problem. At the moment the NDP is having trouble in formulating a policy to bring down the number of people claiming IB in the future.

Let me have your thoughts and let?s see whether we can formulate a policy that might work.

To tackle the unemployment payment problem at the moment would seem to be pointless; the number of people falling out of work during the next year is likely to double. However we do need a policy in place for when the economy turns. Let me have your thoughts.

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