Thursday, February 17, 2011

IDS Welfare Reform Bill: Drowning, but rejecting lifebelts

The Quiet Man is in the news, with his Welfare Reform Bill. It is a curate's egg of a bill, simplifying benefits, and making the passage from benefits to work a little easier.


But.

It is totally and utterly pointless to train, motivate and force claimants to seek work, and to facilitate their passage into said employment if there is no bleeding work out there for them to take up.


Here is my response of last November. 

It addresses the above problem by stretching out IDS' measures to ease the passage to work by transforming benefits into a Wage Subsidy for the green sector of the economy.

In this way, it relieves poverty, helps job creation, greens the economy, helps bring about a Green New Deal, and lays the foundation for acceptance of Citizens' Income.


I put a submission in to the IDS' DWP consultation.

They have not acknowledged receipt.

2 comments:

Lee said...

Wage subsidies, and not just in the green sector, are a very good idea. I'd also suggest implementing this policy in conjunction with local authorities becoming 'employers of last resort.'

DocRichard said...

Thanks Lee, but I'm restricting it to the beneficial sector of the economy. I dont want my tax money benefiting the likes of Trafigura, Vodafone, Boots &c.