Out with the old and in with the new?
Posted on Monday, January 1 2007
Hogmanay and New Year have traditionally been about making a fresh start, saying good bye to the previous year whether it was good or bad and looking forward to the future.In the world of politics I hope that this is what will happen but worry that it will still be the same old, same old.Next week in Westminster sees debate of the Welfare Reform Bill. The Bill contains powers to replace incapacity benefits with a new Employment Support Allowance that alongside a new Personal Capability Assessment is supposed to help give individuals more relevant support and get them into appropriate work.It is also supposed to provide increased provisions to tackle benefit fraud, strengthening the "two strikes" rules so that people who commit a second benefit offence within five years of their first one can have their benefit withdrawn.Also included in the Bill is a framework to reform and improve the design and administration of Housing Benefit, through the roll-out of the Local Housing Allowance– a simplified Housing Benefit Scheme.Some of these measures are welcome, certainly anything that simplifies things, however I am concerned that what continues to happen is tinkering around the edges of a state benefits system that is ridiculously complex with claimants, including families, disabled people and carers having huge difficulty understanding what they are entitled to.What is needed is a complete overhaul of the system that makes it much clearer what circumstances allow you to claim and reduce the number of benefits people are required to claim.In some cases claimants can be on as many as half a dozen different benefits all paying small amounts to make up an amount that allows them to live. This is clearly expensive in terms of the bureacracy involved and in many cases people who have paid taxes for many years and find themselves in a situation where they need to claim are put off from doing so by the complex system.I am also very concerned at the balance of the proposals, yes it is important that the government prevent fraud in the benefits system but equally it is important that they provide financial assistance for those in genuine need.Constituents come to me on a regualar basis worried that they will not be able to afford basic necessities because the government will not accept that they have a medical condition or that they require to spend many hours caring for a relative preventing them from working.In many of these cases the medical advice from GPs and NHS Consultants seems practically irrefutable but unfortunately refuted it is.My SNP colleagues and I continue to raise these issues with Ministers but I fear it will be very much the same old, same old until there is a sea change in the way we treat those less fortunate in society, rather than fiddling with our current burgeoning bureacracy.
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