It's All About You: Citizen-centred welfare
Article
Despite rising employment, more than 3.5 million people are not in work and are claiming benefits, which is about the same as in 1997 when the Labour government came to power. At the same time, levels of benefits have not kept pace with rises in earnings and there is a strong correlation between a child living in a workless household and a child living in poverty. The Government will meet neither its employment aspiration nor its target to end child poverty by 2020 if it continues on current form.
Now is the perfect moment for a new approach to welfare. Sixty-five years after the publication of the Beveridge report it is time to retire old solutions (with enormous thanks and respect) and to tackle afresh the types of questions Beveridge was addressing: what do we want from the welfare system as a whole and how can we construct a system that is feasible, workable and affordable?
Related items
Dr Parth Patel on BBC Politics Live - July 2024
IPPR's Dr Parth Patel on BBC Politics Live discussing the new Labour government, Covid, migration and international affairsA ‘mandate’ to deliver: Who voted Labour and what do they want?
This year’s general election saw the Labour party achieve a historic landslide, winning 218 new seats and a comfortable majority in the House of Commons.Half of us: Turnout patterns at the 2024 general election
One-half of adults in this country voted at the 2024 general election, the lowest share of the population to vote since universal suffrage.