A talk for Welsh Focus on the true meaning of welfare reform - what it could be and what it should really aim to achieve.

1. Welfare Reform
a different perspective
Dr Simon Duffy ￭ The Centre for Welfare Reform ￭
Welsh Focus Conference ￭ 4th April 2012

2. Dr Simon Duffy
• Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform -
independent R&D network of over 70 fellows
- based in Sheffield, in the North of England.
• Policy advisor to the Campaign for a Fair
Society.
• Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University
of Birmingham’s Health Service Management
Centre.
• Developed concepts like individual budgets,
self-directed support etc.

3. A different perspective on welfare
1. Welfare Reform is not welfare reform.
2. There are good reasons to reform welfare.
3. Left and Right mostly agree, and are mostly
wrong.
4. Real focus should be on citizenship, family,
community and social justice.
5. Disabled people will be great guides out of our
current confusion.

4. Welfare Reform is not welfare reform
Wikipedia defines welfare reform as
reducing welfare state, increasing
personal responsibility
but Wikipedia is wrong

5. The welfare state is a good thing
• We need a collective system of income
security and rights.
• The post-war welfare state was a great
achievement.
• The conditions that made the welfare state
necessary have increased not diminished.
• The vital securities that human beings need
depend totally upon our shared political and
economic choices.

6. The welfare state is designed wrong
• Designed in a paternalistic and industrial
age
• It’s current design stigmatises and
damages the poorest
• It’s complexity and obscurity undermines
citizenship for everyone - much of it does
not feel universal
• Let’s not just hark back - let’s build
something better

7. There are good reasons to reform
welfare
1. It does not do enough to reduce poverty
2. It often undermines our active citizenship
3. It often fails to support families
4. It often fails to encourage community innovation
5. It is far too centralised and wasteful

8. Problem 1
We think the welfare state
serves the poor
but it makes hardly any
impact on levels of
inequality

13. Problem 2
Citizens have rights,
control their own lives and
support each other
The current welfare system
often takes control away

17. From push to pull

18. Problem 3
Families who need the
most help often get the
least

20. Urgent
Service label N N Real need N
problem
Victim of Better self-
domestic 55 Debt 50 64
esteem
violence
To overcome
Mentally Ill 39 Housing 48 54
past trauma
To manage
Criminal 35 Benefits 46 51
current trauma
To stop being
Poor Mother 33 Health 37 50
bullied
Misuses 24 Rent 32 Guidance 50
Alcohol
Criminal Justice Relationship
Uses Drugs 22 24 45
Advocate skills
Violent 19 Dentistry 8 Mothering skills 26
Chronic Health
16 Others 3 Others 1
Condition

22. 137 different
ways...
to give people not
very much...
•linked or not
•means-tested or
not
•tax credits or
benefits
•disability related
or not
•employment-
seeking or not

26. Problem 4
The current design does not
encourage community
innovation

27. Constant re-
definition in terms of
centrally defined
“project’s” - what’s

28. £0.25 million -
for free...

30. Problem 5
The UK now has the most
centralised welfare state
in the world
and its getting worse

32. Where does all the money go?
• As a proportion of state
spending there is £900
million missing from
Barnsley’s economy.
• Benefits biggest expenditure
- no local control
• NHS largest service - no
local control
• Education - now centrally
controlled
• Employment support -
centrally commissioned

33. Total Place??

36. It is striking how little
difference there is between Left
and Right
Instead, we need to tap into
democratic and community-
focused traditions

37. the loud argument
• State = good • Markets = good
• Markets fail • States can’t plan
• Give help • Give choice
• Increase services • Cut taxes
that disguises

38. the quiet assumption of
• Meritocracy - society should be led by the ‘best’
people - politicians, civil servants or business men
• People can’t be trusted - people must be
governed by fear or greed
• Economic growth is the goal - growth creates
money for taxes and for profit

39. Political pandering

42. an alternative
• Democracy is vital - we cannot entrust our lives
into the hands of an elite
• Citizenship is the means - we must be trusted
to improve our own lives as part of our
communities
• Social Justice is the goal - we need the rights
and duties that enable and support citizenship

43. Wales does not need to repeat this
pattern of elitist thinking
The current commitment to citizen-
directed support is encouraging.

44. In future our focus should be on:
citizenship
family
community
social justice

46. Achieving citizenship
1. Purpose - set my own direction
2. Control - get charge of my life
3. Money - use my own means
4. Home - as part of my community
5. Needs - with help from others
6. Gifts - to make my own contribution

47. Maslow: hierarchy of need
is upside down

48. Self-realisation comes first
Maslow was wrong

49. If you wait for self-realisation until
after you’ve met all your other needs
you will have no self left to realise
...citizenship begins within us - in the
search for our purpose.

50. and builds on real wealth

51. ...personalisation...

52. Disabled people will be the best
guides on how to escape from our
current confusion
• Current government cuts target disabled
people
• Disabled people are perceived to be a
weak group
• But disabled people know better than
others how welfare should be reformed

53. • 58% of all cuts target disabled people
and people in poverty
• 36% of all cuts target disabled people
• 24% of all cuts target the 1.9% of the
population who need social care -
those with the most severe
impairments

55. • Unfair - target those who are most
disadvantaged
• Unfair - make an unequal society
even more unequal
• Unfair - target the groups that didn’t
benefit from the economic bubble

56. • Prejudice against and fear of disabled
people
• Political weakness of disabled
people
• Particularity of social care and
benefit systems
• Confusion about the welfare system

58. Everyone is equal, no matter their age,
differences or disabilities.
A fair society sees each of its members as a full
citizen - a unique person with a life of their own.
A fair society is organised to support everyone
to live a full life, with meaning and respect.

59. lure the tiger from
the mountains

62. 1.Human rights - not services
2.Clear entitlements - not confusion
3.Early support - not crisis
4.Equal access - not institutional care
5.Choice and control - not dependence
6.Fair incomes - not insecurity
7.Fair taxes - not targeted
8.Financial reform - sustainable

63. Actions...
• Join the Campaign
• Connect to the Centre
• Organise a Welsh alternative to
welfare reform

64. For more information go to
www.centreforwelfarereform.org
These slides are © Simon Duffy 2012 ￭ Publisher is The
Centre for Welfare Reform ￭ Slides can be distributed subject
to conditions set out at www.centreforwelfarereform.org ￭