The plans, states Purnell, will:
- Support "Incapacity Benefit claimants back into work by paying private, public and voluntary sector providers from the benefit savings they achieve"
- Give "private and voluntary providers the right to bid for any back-to-work service"
- Test proposals for "full-time work programmes with private and voluntary providers" – just to keep receiving Jobseeker's Allowance.
These proposals are, according to Purnell, are "inspired by the reforms proposed by David Freud" – an investment banker who was commissioned by the Government to review welfare services. In his report, Freud describes welfare as "this annual multi-billion pound market" which could "attract major players from around the world".
It is this that alarms the Sheffield Welfare Action Network – which, in a detailed critique, concludes, "we are moving towards a US style minimal, high surveillance and invasive welfare system".
The General Secretary of the civil service union PCS, Mark Serwotka, states that "the public sector has consistently out performed the private sector in getting people back into work" - challenging New Labour's 'what works' mantra. As Serwotka states, "these proposals are regressive and draconian, going further than even Thatcher dared in the 1980s".
This is not an issue that those in work can afford to ignore. Aside from the moral disgrace that the policy proposal is, there is also the reality that more and more people will be pushed into the welfare system as the looming recession hits. Unemployment has been rising for the past seven months, and a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee predicted that unemployment would reach 2 million by the end of the year. Meanwhile demand for staff (job vacancies) has fallen at the fastest rate for seven years.
The consultation document 'No One Written Off' can be downloaded from the DWP website and the deadline for responses is 22nd October 2008.
