welfare

When Iain Duncan Smith made his notorious speech in which he compared his welfare reforms to the abolition of slavery, he was assumed to be referring to the TV programme ‘Benefits Street’ when he spoke of ‘ghettos’ as evidence of all that is wrong with the welfare state.

Anjelica Finnegan started work at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) this week and will be leading a new Joseph Rowntree Fund-financed research project to find out about the experiences of voluntary organisations dealing with the government's welfare changes in the Welfare Reform Act.

Prior to Channel Four’s ‘Benefits Street’ being aired last night (6 January 2014), the tabloid press had primed its readers, with plenty of articles such as this one from the Daily Express, laden with Iain Duncan Smith-style rhetoric: ‘broken Britain, scroungers, workshy, burden on society’, etcetera.

UK chancellor George Osborne is using divide-and-rule tactics to try to push through further cuts of around £25 billion over two years by 2017-18. This includes £12 billion in social security reductions. The poorest will be worst affected but, if he gets his way, many others currently struggling to cope with sharply rising prices and rents will be hit.