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Welfare Reform
The Government is committed to building a strong, healthy and prosperous society, where everyone has the opportunity to make the most of their skills and potential.
The Government wants as many people as possible to share in the rewards of work, because paid work is the best route to independence, health and well-being for most people.
We have already made significant progress with the introduction of a series of reforms to remove the barriers holding people back, to help them into work and to give them responsibility and the support they need.
We have also taken steps to ensure work pays. These policies have helped reduce child poverty and deliver high levels of employment.
But more needs to be done to remove the barriers people face or help overcome them. This is particularly important when economic times are more difficult.
The story so far
The Government’s reforms have contributed to a significant improvement in the underlying performance of the UK labour market. Employment remains at a high level and the number of people claiming a key out-of-work benefit is around one million lower than in 1997. We have:
- created Jobcentre Plus, a world leading welfare to work organisation
- introduced innovative employment programmes such as the New Deals
- improved incentives to work by providing greater support through the tax credit system and the introduction of the minimum wage
- rolled-out Pathways to Work nationally for people on incapacity benefits.
And the work goes on. In October 2008, we replaced incapacity benefits for new claimants with the Employment and Support Allowance which focuses on what people can do, rather than what they can’t. Jobcentre Plus has also started running work skills trials, and a stronger framework of rights and responsibilities for lone parents beginning in November 2008.
Fair Rules for Strong Communities was published on the Number 10 website on 2 December 2008.
Looking ahead
The need to step up personalised support for individuals to help them back to work, and increase their responsibility to take up this help is particularly important when economic times are more difficult.
During Summer 2008, the Government consulted on the next steps in the journey of welfare reform. The Green Paper: No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility, set out proposals to:
- provide a more personalised service to help jobseekers to access the support and skills they need to help themselves
- deliver a simpler system of two working age benefits which means we can focus on equipping those who can work with the skills they need to find jobs while also providing the right support at the right time to those who need it most
- provide greater support for disabled people and empower them as they are given greater control of the support they get from government
- strengthen parental responsibility
- ensure that many more parents will be able to access the skills and training they need to find employment and improve their children’s life chances
- strengthen local partnerships, creating more opportunities for back-to-work providers to deliver greater local flexibility and help to jobseekers so that they can access jobs within the local labour market.
The consultation closed on 22 October 2008 and a response will be published in the coming months.
Watch three short films that explore the steps some of our customers have taken in their journey to find employment after a long period out of work.