The campaign for decent Social Security – support for those that need it.
Socialists within PCS understand that the battle for decent social security and a system that supports people not one that grinds them down, is a key issue for PCS.
When we discuss ‘the Alternative’ we talk about tax justice and affordable housing alongside the campaign to provide dignity for all through proper welfare division. It is an area that has the potential for huge division, but we recognise that the attacks on our members pay and living standards stem from the same source as those that seek to blame benefit claimants for the situation that they find themselves in.
So what we strive for is the biggest most united campaign possible that places the blame where it truly lies with this government and its so-called welfare reforms.
But it would be a mistake to suggest that this all started in 2010. Successive governments including New Labour have ‘taken a pop’ at welfare provision and it was New Labour’s “third way” and New Deal policies which saw the escalation of welfare to work programmes and increased the burden of individual responsibility.
Who can forget New Labour DWP Secretary, James Purnell’s assertion that “there is more to life than moving from the bedroom to the sofa” and that “punishing people who did not find work was the right thing to do”. He went on to say that “we cannot afford to waste taxpayers’ money on people who are playing the system.”
Shamefully and ironically, the escalation of demonisation and the introduction of conditionality in the benefits system was pioneered by a Labour politician and a Labour government.
The 2011 and 2016 Welfare Reform Acts delivered £34 billion of cuts with a further £12 billion expected by 2022.
And although we as a union have campaigned tirelessly on this issue, building alliances with organisations such as Unite Community, the Unemployed Workers Combines, Disabled People Against Cuts and Black Triangle, it is clear that there is still a long way to go when as recently as 2016, during the debate on the 2016 Act, Harriet Harman, who was acting Labour leader during the leadership election, whipped up Labour MPs to abstain on the bill. 48 MPs defied the whip, including Corbyn, McDonnell and Abbott and on the night of the debate John McDonnel said “I would swim through vomit to vote against this bill and listening to some of the nauseating speeches tonight, I think I might have to”
None of this came about overnight though, from the start of Thatcher’s premiership to today, there have been systematic efforts to reduce the role of the state in everyday life.
Recently released papers tell us that under Thatcher proposals included an insurance –based health system, scrapping state-funded education and the introduction of ‘education vouchers’. Every government since then has pursued a policy agenda of large scale cutbacks to social security.
Whilst Thatcher’s policies were described by political scientist Paul Pierson as ‘death by a thousand cuts’, it was New Labour’s New Deal that included a policy that all working age claimants attend a work-focused interview, this in turn paved the way for the now widely expanded claimant commitment.
Poverty Porn
Demonising claimants has been one of the most effective tools utilised in cultivating public support for massive benefit cuts.
Those who can barely make ends meet during an economic crisis have become the subject of primetime viewing. Who can forget the hilarity of ‘white Dee’ on programmes such as Benefits Street, Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away and Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole?
Both Tory and Labour governments have made efforts to convince the public that the welfare state is too large, too generous and is being abused by the work shy, the disabled, single mothers etc.
These programmes just serve to stereotype the view of benefit claimants being feckless, lazy scroungers who fritter their benefits away on alcohol, fags and widescreen TVs.
The nature of the capitalist system already forces groups within the working class to compete with one another – inflammatory language about social security only intensifies these divisions which provide ample opportunity for those living at the very top of the income scale to syphon away wealth off-shore, exploit the poorly paid and accelerate the race to the bottom in employment rights.
Those seated at the top table are gorging themselves, while those on the floor are forced to fight amongst themselves for the crumbs
The reality is that only around 1% of benefit claims are fraudulent and more money goes unclaimed than is lost to fraudulent activity, while £119 billion in tax is avoided, evaded or uncollected, but none of that, of course, is widely publicised.
However, the most recent data shows that the public is softening its position on welfare.
Public support for greater spending on benefits for the unemployed is at its highest level in 15 years and 71% of people support increasing the minimum wage
A Failing System
In the past year 1.3 million emergency foodbank parcels were given out – a 13% increase on the previous year.
The introduction of fit-to-work assessments has led to a doubling in the number of attempted suicides by disability benefit claimants
Benefit cuts made since 2010 have pushed 700,000 children into poverty, according to research from Child Poverty Action Group.
Two thirds of children living in poverty are living in a household with at least one working parent or guardian
If you are sick or disabled, you are twice as likely to live in poverty; 4 million is the current number said to be living in poverty.
Hospitals have reported an increasing number of children suffering from rickets, a malnutrition disease of Victoria-era poverty Britain.
The failure of Universal Credit
In March 2018 the DWP’s latest forecast showed that it failed to pay 21% of claimants their full benefit entitlement on time following their initial claim
A scathing report by the National Audit Office found that 113,000 payments were made late, affecting around one quarter of new claims
40% of new claims waited 11 weeks or more for full payment; and 20% waited almost five months or more
Foodbank use, rent arrears and evictions have been rapidly rising in areas where Universal Credit has been rolled out
Three quarters of tenants claiming Universal Credit are in rent arrears, compared to one third of all other tenants
Nearly a third of landlords have evicted Universal Credit tenants in the last 12 months. 77% of those cases were due to rent arrears which is an increase of 64% from the previous year
Foodbank use increased by 52% in the first 12 months in areas where Universal Credit was introduced; this is four times higher than in areas where Universal Credit is not yet rolled out
Our members in DWP who deliver Welfare
PCS members work in a range of roles within DWP, including the delivery of Universal Credit. PCS raise our concerns with DWP management at every opportunity about inadequate staffing, which we believe is contributing to the current backlogs and delays in claimants receiving the money to which they are entitled.
- Low pay in the civil service means that 40% of PCS members processing Universal Credit are also entitled to claim it, how have we got to that position?
- DWP are already struggling to deliver the rollout of new claims to Universal Credit, and the rollout schedule has been put back several times
- The current rollout plan will mean a significant increase in UC claims from September 2018 onwards, and we believe that DWP will have difficulty in delivering what is an ambitious plan to have all Jobcentres delivering UC Full Service by the end of 2018.
- The rigid adherence to four- weekly payments of UC in England and Wales is causing hardship for claimants. In Scotland, four- weekly payment has been amended to allow for a continuation of fortnightly payments
- PCS believes that the proposals for legislation to migrate millions of claimants on existing benefits onto UC could prove disastrous if the current problems with the system are not resolved
- Closure of “back of house” centres under strategies such as DWP’s People and Locations, will mean a reduction of experienced staff, including those staff with expertise in legacy benefit work.
- Job centres should be an important community asset- especially in deprived areas – not just places where claimants and staff feel demoralised
- Digitalisation of welfare excludes marginalised and vulnerable groups and Tory strategies such as ‘reducing footfall’ do nothing to recognise this.
- Reduced one-on-one time between work coaches and claimants makes it more difficult to develop good relationships and our members tell us that training for working with claimants with mental health issues is woefully inadequate.
Halt Universal Credit now
Universal Credit is beset with problems and there are now widespread calls for it to be scrapped. PCS activists agree that the rollout must be stopped in order to address these issues
The Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’ Centre have produced a new pamphlet ‘Would You Credit It’ which surveys claimants about their experience of UC and provides us with some useful information to inform our discussions. We continue to meet with them and Unite Community on an ongoing basis following our successful joint conference in 2015.
In Scotland, the opportunity to work with Scottish ministers to develop a plan for the sort of devolved social security system that we want to deliver has given PCS an invaluable opportunity to work jointly and consulting our members, put forward our ideas to shape devolved welfare delivery.
At the TUC in September, a motion was debated calling on the incoming Labour Government to scrap Universal Credit and PCS fully supported that position.
We believe that it is in our members’ and wider society’s interest that a Corbyn-led government grasp the opportunity to radically transform our social security system and to this end, consulting our members who deliver UC, we have been meeting shadow ministers to discuss and articulate the sort of system that we would want to see.
This is about putting forward our Alternative.
The social security system was originally conceived of as a collective and secure safety net for those falling on hard times but has been replaced by a system geared around individual responsibility
We encourage Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party to take the opportunity to make a historic step and set out a socialist vision of a new social security system where no one falls into poverty through unemployment or disability and nobody is forced to choose between heating and eating.
There is a growing consensus that a radical new investment programme is needed to transform the economy and offset the growing levels of inequality – IPPR think-tank last week called for changes on a par with Labour’s post-war plans
A radical social security overhaul must have those original intentions at its heart but must also take into account the societal and workplace changes that have taken place over recent decades
A radical overhaul also needs to take into account that significant investment needs to be made in the training and development of DWP staff, our members. Despite their best efforts they are vastly overworked and underpaid.
The Austerity argument has been lost; after nearly a decade of cuts people want to see investment in public services, we have a moral duty to look after everyone in society.
PCS, under our Left Unity leadership, continues to be at the forefront of arguing for decent social security and in coordinating the biggest joint campaign possible for a system that our members can truly take pride in delivering.
Fran Heathcote
PCS DWP President (in a personal capacity)
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