Passing the hat in Britain
By Terry Smith
News that Oxfam intends to embark on a program of poverty relief in Britain underlines the extent to which the Tories have devastated the welfare state.
The charity, best known for its appeals to tackle starvation in the Third World, points to the vast and widening gulf between the wealthiest 10% of the British population, whose incomes have risen an average of 62% since 1979, and the poorest 10%, who are a massive 17% worse off.
Eleven million people now live below a poverty line defined as half the average income, compared with just 3 million in 1977. The biggest single group in poverty is old-age pensioners, whose basic pension has been cut in half in comparison with average earnings.
But the other key factor is the massive level of unemployment. Dole payments have also been slashed back to less than half their 1979 value, while ever greater numbers of jobless workers find themselves denied payments.
There is worse to come, following Kenneth Clarke's decision in the last budget to scrap unemployment benefit and instead launch a new, restrictive "Jobseekers Allowance", which will pay for only six months instead of 12.
Social security has also been brutally squeezed, with the axing of special needs payments and their replacement with loans, and now the scrapping of invalid benefits, to be replaced by even more limited new benefits.
The misery of the millions forced to claim these benefits will be intensified by the vicious tactics of Social Security chief Peter Lilley and employment secretary Michael Portillo, who have mounted a combined offensive against benefit fraud.
The latest figures already show a sharp increase in prosecutions of claimants and cheapskate employers seeking to exploit the system, but behind the scenes there has been a big increase in the harassment of innocent claimants. Meanwhile an estimated 92 billion a year remains unclaimed by people entitled to benefits.
Vicious new restrictions on council provision of accommodation to the homeless are also in the pipeline following a government announcement in July. Only temporary accommodation will be available, and the onus will be placed on the applicant to prove that he or she became homeless unintentionally.
[From Socialist Outlook.]