The Carrot and Kick of Welfare Reform

I was brought up in the 1960's  My dad who had his own demons from time spent in WWII, left my mum and my sister and I  my mum had recurring mental health issues from her experience of that war and whilst I will spare you the history, what I can say is that to my bones, the poverty and humiliation my mum's and my own, watching her dealing with National Assistance, the church and community and having to depend on handouts (the well meaning and the begrudged and the beholden) has remained with me. I may have achieved  things in my life but often find myself at the mercy of what I call "imposter syndrome" the metaphorical tap on the shoulder that reminds me of that time when only my ability to send myself up kept me from falling down. 


Now I don't claim to be an expert on the economics of welfare reform or the social, emotional or intellectual justifications by those in power (and earning a substantial crust from the fruits of our labour) of just how reducing the access of our most vulnerable citizens to what is already an unliving wage, in a time of recession, makes sense - economic or otherwise.

I agree that unemployment, economic inactivity and worklessness can take a terrible toll on health and wellbeing but, here's the thing,  being hounded off social security benefits into a wilderness of punishment and sanctions, when jobs are hard to find, harder to sustain and the traditional "survival jobs"  are now a  competition involving  the "newly unemployed" is just a social security smokescreen;  it is simply about reducing the benefit bill and  not about supporting long term unemployed people back to work or helping disabled people to access employment and learning that improves their wellbeing and quality of life. 

Mr Duncan-Smith cannot possibly equate his ability to live on £56pw with the reality of living in poverty as a child and being destined for poverty as an adult - this type of poverty gets into the sinews of a person and can dictate their life, life chances and the length of time they live; his simple argument about creating the right circumstances to get people off benefits and working through what can only be termed "carrot and kick" that is, we will pay prime contractors to deliver their brand of workfare to you and if you fail to succeed, they will help us to kick you - we won't punish them even though they are being paid to deliver - Donkeys making an Ass out of the system and still getting the prime carrots for their trouble.

The simple fact is that all those currently eligible for social security benefits have at some point in that critical path been assessed as eligible for them - wake up it's not their fault if they didn't get the help and support needed to get back to work within your timetable Mr Duncan-Smith it is the fault of those who at one time when everything was chugging along nicely didn't think to look at the damage to lives that such long term benefit dependence could bring.  So from eligibility to blame and shame and name and drain.  

Grate and denigrate the poor and the sick and the ill, shave off those wholesome, hard won   truffles onto the plates of the bankers and the tax-dodgers, the fraudsters and the rest.  Just don't try and fool us that your actions are for the common good - that is just too hard to swallow