Vol. 72/No. 36      September 15, 2008

“There will be a very clear expectation that if there is work there people should take it, and sanctions to make sure that if they do not there will be consequences,” said James Purnell, the government’s work and pensions secretary.

The new measures were first proposed by a commission headed by former investment banker David Freud. The report was commissioned by former prime minister Anthony Blair.

Unemployed workers could have benefits stopped for up to six months if they do not “cooperate in looking for a job,” said the London Times. To qualify for payments, anyone receiving unemployment benefits for more than two years will have to do jobs like cleaning parks, removing graffiti, or helping in nursing homes. Currently some 68,000 people have been on Jobseekers allowance for more than two years, 16,000 for more than five years. Those addicted to drugs will be refused welfare if they do not seek help. Single parents will be required to work when children reach the age of seven.

Starting October 27 new applications for disability or sickness benefits will be conditional upon government-appointed doctors confirming that applicants are unable to work any kind of job. Currently, if a person meets a threshold of incapacity to work in general, they are entitled to benefits.

All 2.6 million people receiving incapacity benefits today are to be reassessed. London aims to cut the numbers of those receiving these benefits by 1 million by 2015. Benefits for those looking for work are already £20 a week less than for those judged incapable of working, and are conditional on proof of job hunting. (£1=US$1.82)

The opposition Conservative Party backs the attacks, but says they don’t go far enough. Conservative leader David Cameron wants the two-year limit on claiming unemployment benefits to be over a worker’s lifetime.

The attacks come at a time when unemployment is rising. The number of people out of work increased 60,000 in the three months leading up to June, bringing the official unemployment rate to 5.4 percent.

To minimize resistance from the labor movement, the rulers have accompanied their drive by a sustained campaign to whip up resentment and divisions between employed and unemployed workers, scapegoat immigrants, and bolster the family.

“Labour blitz on dole scroungers,” headlined an article in the Sun. The right-wing Spectator wrote that “welfare ghettos” are “spawning gang warfare and endemic criminality” and “are Petri dishes where social malaise festers. Mass immigration now makes it impossible to argue that there are not enough jobs in Britain.”

David Cameron vowed to make Britain “more family-friendly.” In a June speech to Relate, the largest provider of relationship counseling in the United Kingdom, he said that maintaining strong family relationships “is the way to reduce budget deficits” by “reducing the demands on the state caused by family breakdown.”

James Purnell’s proposals also pave the way for increased involvement of business and voluntary sectors. They already make £1.8 billion from such schemes. Businesses could bid to run programs, such as welfare-to-work schemes and projects to “rehabilitate” former prisoners.  
 
 
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