This presentation was given at the 2011 Disability Wales AGM and sets out the kind of systemic failings of the current welfare state, particularly as regards disabled people. It also decries the radical unfairness of the government's cuts programme and argues that we need a broad and positive campaign for fairer reforms.

1. Real Welfare Reform
Redesigning the Welfare State
to Increase Social Justice
Talk for Disability Wales - October 2011

2. Dr Simon Duffy
• Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform - genuinely
independent R&D network based in Sheffield
• ‘Invented’ Individual Budgets and Self-Directed Support
• Founded Inclusion Glasgow, In Control, Shop4Support and
many other charities and social enterprises
• Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University of
Birmingham’s Health Service Management Centre
• Policy advisor to The Campaign for a Fair Society
• Lives in Sheffield

3. The basic proposition
1. The Welfare State is a good thing - it’s just
designed wrong
2. The current unfair cuts target disabled people
3. This reflects a repeated pattern of
discrimination against disabled people
4. Its time to start building a broad alliance for a
fairer system and a fair society

4. The welfare state is good...
• We need a collective system of income
security and rights
• The post-war welfare state was a great
achievement
• The conditions that make the welfare state
necessary have increased not diminished

5. ... but it’s 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
• Let’s not just hark back - let’s build
something better

6. Example 01: The Poverty Net

7. The poverty net means
• 137 different ways to give people
not very much
• UK is the 3rd most unequal
developed country
• Confused: linked, means-tested,
disability-related, family-sensitive
or NOT
• 100% tax on earning, 25%+ tax
on families, taxes on savings
• The poorest 10% pay the highest
share of income in tax: 46.6%

8. The poverty net means
Teresa Perchard , Director of Social Policy, Citizens Advice:
“Citizens Advice acknowledges that the £1.5 billion cost of fraud
in the benefit system must be recovered, but we are very
concerned at the government’s persistent tendency to roll fraud
and error figures together. Errors account for the remaining £3.7
billion of the £5.2 billion figure quoted...
“In the meantime, the £5 billion cost to government through fraud
and error is dwarfed by the £17 billion of benefits and tax
credits that remain un-claimed every year, because people
don’t know they are entitled to claim, or because the system is too
complicated.”
In other words: The government defrauds the poor
at more than 11 times the rate at which the poor
defraud the government

9. Example 02: Social Care
• Weak and confused entitlements
• Funding for segregated services not for people
• Citizens are not in control of their own lives

10. ... and so, citizen-directed support
• Current efforts to revise the old system
• Some success in promoting control and creativity
• Limited by legal framework and other rigidities
My My
Budget: Supp
ort
Plan
£
Clarify Entitlement Plan Together Support in Community Focus on Outcomes
Resource Allocation System (RAS)
£

11. The current cuts target disabled people

12. Its organised as a pincer attack:
• Cuts to social care
• that can be blamed on local
or national governments
• Cuts in direct income
• that can be hidden within
efforts to ‘reform’ the
current system

13. Attack 01: social care cuts
Approximately 1.5 million children and adults, including older
people, receive social care each year in the UK because of
significant disabilities. This group face social care cuts from:
• Cuts to local government funding and funding for Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Cuts to Supporting People funding
• Termination of Independent Living Fund
Note that:
• Local government, by 2014, will have been cut by 20%
• Social care is biggest role for local government (c. 40%)
• 34% of all cuts fell on local government (excluding education)
despite accounting for only 5% of government spending
• over the long-run local government funding has been behind
other public services

14. Central control - local weakness...
UK is the most centralised welfare state in the world

15. social care cuts will mean:
• Increases in eligibility thresholds - so some people stop
getting support
• Increases in charges - so people who are already poor will
lose even more direct income
• Cuts to local services, especially community organisations
• Reduction in wages for staff
• Reductions in individual budget levels
• Attempts to rationalise services or contract out to private
providers - limiting choice and damaging markets
• Attempts to limit flexibility of how people can use their
budgets - damaging creativity
• Less preventive support - increasing crises and expensive
placements

16. Attack 02: direct income cuts
Benefits, tax credits and pensions take up c.£185 billion per year, c.
18% of GDP. The major changes planned include:
• Rolling income support benefits into Universal Credit
• Rolling disability benefits into Personal Independent Payments
• Cuts to Housing Benefit and Mortgage Interest Relief
Already:
• £6 billion a year to be saved by weaker indexation
• Stricter medical tests delivered by ‘incentivised’ provider (ATOS)
• Planned reductions in hyper-taxation on poor will be paid for by
reducing benefit incomes rather than increasing DWP spending
NB: The poor can be very poor indeed - the poorest must live on
£2,780 per year - compared to mean household income of £50,000
per year (<6%).

17. Benefit (£ billions) 10/11 (mn) PA
Retirement Pension £72.4 protected 12,509,000 £5,787
Tax Credits £24.0 protected 7,200,000 £3,333
Housing Benefit £21.5 vulnerable 4,750,000 £4,530
Disability Living Allowance £12.5 vulnerable 3,214,000 £3,879
Attendance Allowance £5.4 vulnerable 1,635,000 £3,325
Child Benefit £11.0 questionable 7,200,000 £1,528
Income Support £5.8 vulnerable 1,746,000 £3,301
Pension Credit £7.7 vulnerable 2,664,000 £2,880
Council tax benefits £4.1 vulnerable 5,794,000 £705
Jobseeker’s Allowance £4.8 questionable 1,402,000 £3,453
Carer’s Allowance £1.0 vulnerable 566,000 £1,767
ESA + IB £6.9 questionable 2,469,000 £2,782
Independent Living Fund £0.2 terminated 21,000 £9,524
TOTAL £177.245
2010-11 Figures from DWP for major benefits - child benefit and tax credits from other sources

18. Why do the cuts target disabled people?

19. Not just cuts - but targeted cuts
Protected Cut
Pensions Disability benefits
Healthcare Social Care
Education Social Housing
£350 billion out of £500 £40 billion
Universal, mainstream, for Special, marginal, ‘the
‘ordinary people like us’ poor & unfortunate’
Delivered by nationalised Delivered by complex
systems with high visibility systems with low visibility

20. Political pandering

21. Tax Paid (%) Net Income
50% £70,000
£60,000
40%
£50,000
30%
£40,000
£30,000
20%
£20,000
10%
£10,000
0% £0
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles

22. This is a long-standing issue
1. No constitutional guarantees for citizenship - we have weak rights
and only hazy responsibilities placed on multiple public bodies
2. No natural justice - the courts apply ‘natural justice’ to define
entitlements, but public bodies simply ration on the basis of ‘equitable
charity’
3. No support for families - families have to reach breaking point in order
to be entitled to support, and then they are treated as ‘carers’
4. No control guaranteed - funding is guaranteed to providers, but not to
people, even with direct payments control is often limited
5. No housing rights - many people end up in institutional settings, with no
housing rights, no privacy or control over who they live with
6. No decent incentives - the current benefit system punishes families,
savers, earners and disabled people
7. No universality - means-testing or charges are just an extra tax on
groups who are already poor, this leads to many people making themselves
poorer just to ensure they become entitled to social care

23. from the professional gift
to citizenship

24. The Campaign for a Fair Society
• Beginnings - began on 8th February 2011 by
people horrified at the likely impact of the
Spending Review
• Members - Over 1,000 individuals and 100
organisations are members.
• UK-wide - There are Scottish, Welsh & English
Steering Groups - connected federally in a UK
group.
• Communications - information on web, twitter,
facebook etc - www.campaignforafairsociety.org

25. Core
Values
Everyone is equal, no matter their
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.

27. Scottish Campaign Manifesto - 7 Commitments
1. to human rights
2. to make the entitlement to support an objective
right defined in law
3. to provide families and individuals with early
support
4. to put people back in control of their own life
5. to good housing
6. to a guaranteed minimum income free from
means-testing
7. to end the current super-tax on older and disabled
people levied through local authority charges

28. It is time to campaign
against unfair cuts
and
for a fair society

29. Decile Number Income plus Benefits less Taxes Net Income Tax
1st 2,528,000 £2,043.00 £4,592.00 £3,092.00 £3,543.00 46.6%
2nd 2,528,000 £3,738.00 £7,287.00 £3,274.00 £7,751.00 29.7%
3rd 2,530,000 £7,464.00 £7,431.00 £4,642.00 £10,253.00 31.2%
4th 2,527,000 £11,387.00 £7,702.00 £6,155.00 £12,934.00 32.2%
5th 2,529,000 £18,354.00 £5,969.00 £8,656.00 £15,667.00 35.6%
6th 2,530,000 £26,523.00 £4,093.00 £10,978.00 £19,638.00 35.9%
7th 2,529,000 £33,862.00 £3,656.00 £13,379.00 £24,139.00 35.7%
8th 2,525,000 £43,552.00 £2,743.00 £16,710.00 £29,585.00 36.1%
9th 2,531,000 £56,842.00 £2,310.00 £20,833.00 £38,319.00 35.2%
10th 2,531,000 £100,138.00 £1,958.00 £35,271.00 £66,825.00 34.5%
Mean £30,390.30 £4,774.10 £12,299.00 £22,865.40 35.3%
Sum 25,288,000
Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles

30. Decile Number Adjustment Cost Contribution Services Net Use Balance
1st 2,528,000 £1,500 £3,792,000,000 £4,314 -£1,675 -£175
2nd 2,528,000 £4,013 £10,144,864,000 £4,854 -£1,135 £2,878
3rd 2,530,000 £2,789 £7,056,170,000 £5,503 -£486 £2,303
4th 2,527,000 £1,547 £3,909,269,000 £5,839 -£150 £1,397
5th 2,529,000 -£2,687 £6,795,423,000 £6,025 £36 -£2,651
6th 2,530,000 -£6,885 £17,419,050,000 £5,908 -£81 -£6,966
7th 2,529,000 -£9,723 £24,589,467,000 £6,281 £292 -£9,431
8th 2,525,000 -£13,967 £35,266,675,000 £6,733 £744 -£13,223
9th 2,531,000 -£18,523 £46,881,713,000 £7,473 £1,484 -£17,039
10th 2,531,000 -£33,313 £84,315,203,000 £6,958 £969 -£32,344
Mean -£7,525 £5,989
Sum 25,288,000 £24,902,303,000
£215,267,531,000 £151,444,774,400
Surplus £38,920,453,600
Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles

31. Household Income 1st Decile Adjusted Share
Income 2043 3424 39%
Retirement pension 2463 2048 23%
Job seeker's allowance (Contribution based) 61 72 1%
Incapacity benefit 268 285 3%
Widows' benefits 59 35 0%
Statutory Maternity Pay/Allowance 3 5 0%
Income support and pension credit 468 651 7%
Child benefit 87 422 5%
Housing benefit 650 755 9%
Job seeker's allowance (Income based) 100 129 1%
Carer's allowance 9 36 0%
Attendance allowance 7 2 0%
Disability Living Allowance 144 204 2%
War pensions/War widows' pensions 11 2 0%
Severe disablement allowance 2 1 0%
Industrial injury disablement benefit - 2 0%
Student support 26 73 1%
Government training schemes 3 3 0%
Tax credits 73 564 6%
Other non-contributory benefits 158 107 1%
Gross income 6635 8820
Source: ONS tax-benefit data 2007-08 - unadjusted household deciles