An independent report for the Department for Work and Pensions compiled by David Freud was published today which sets out a review of the benefits system with a vision towards public/private partnership of welfare to work. The report pays particular attention to reforming the benefit system for lone parents and people in receipt of incapacity benefit, and proposals to develop privately contracted support to assist long term benefit claimants back into work.

While the UK Coalition Against Poverty believes that work does contribute towards the alleviation of poverty, employment in and of itself does not automatically lift a person out of poverty. For example, nearly half of the children who live in poverty in the UK live in households where one adult is working on low income minimum wage. In order for work to be a route out of poverty we believe that people should be paid a living wage, assisted with housing and council tax payments where necessary, and that additional forms of support for childcare and other caring needs must be affordable, flexible and locally available.

It is our hope that the disproportionate focus upon lone parents and incapacity benefit claimants in this report does not serve to stigmatise these groups further within society. There are wider factors to consider when making assumptions about the ability of certain groups to work. For example, caution must be taken in demands for lone parents to enter employment before their child is of school leaving age, since not only will a comprehensive package of affordable support be crucial, but the state must recognise that some lone parents may feel it to be in the best interest of their child to care for them at home, especially when children are sick. Forcing people back to work through time limited benefits and sanctions will cause unnecessary stress and have a potentially devastating impact upon poverty levels.

The UK Coalition Against Poverty also urges caution with the development of privately contracted support for the benefits system, as we believe that the British welfare system should not be a contested marketplace. Targets and profits must not drive the genuine need for support, and we must ensure that people who leave the benefit system are not forced into poorly paid and poorly suited employment which is unsustainable. A submission by the Social Policy Task Force to the Freud Review has urged particular caution regarding the transfer of services to the private sector and claims that partnership working between the state and voluntary sector would help deliver more personalized services and holistic support for people who face barriers to entering employment or education, so long as benefit sanctions do not form part of the programme.

The report does address the need for additional investment in education and skills, stating that 4.6 million working age people in the UK have no qualifications at all. At the UK Coalition Against Poverty we would support any additional funding for education and skills training so that no young person leaves school without relevant qualifications and skills to enter forms of employment which they find to be fulfilling. We would also support a drive to invest in the educational needs and skills of mature students.

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