“Re-think welfare reforms in face of jobless rise” demand campaigners

As the numbers facing unemployment in Scotland jumped by 13,000, members of the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWR) today urged the Government to rethink controversial welfare proposals that would make claiming out of work benefits even more difficult.

The campaigners are members of a forty strong coalition of charities that wrote to the Work and Pensions Secretary last month raising concerns that proposed welfare reforms were “punitive and undignified”.

With increasing numbers of Scottish households now looking to the benefit system for financial support they believe that now is not the time to increase the conditions attached to benefit entitlement. Instead they say Ministers must raise benefits levels so that out of work claimants are not plunged into poverty.

John Dickie, Head of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland said:

“As the economic situation worsens even more families will be looking to a hopelessly inadequate benefit and tax credit safety net. There is no question that reform of our welfare system is needed, but such reform needs to treat people with dignity, lift them out of poverty and be adequately resourced. With fewer jobs and more jobseekers, harsh new sanctions are irrational, unfair and a threat to family security. The endless new threats and conditions for disabled people and lone parents are an expensive bureaucratic burden that could not come at a worse time. They must be suspended.”

Peter Kelly, Director of The Poverty Alliance said:

"The UK Government must think again about the direction of its reform of the welfare system. At a time when unemployment is rising it is misguided to put more pressure on people to find work, particularly those who face real barriers getting back to work. If the UK Government is serious about protecting people from poverty as this recession bites, then it most look at the value of welfare benefits, not at penalising people who can't find work."

Notes for editors

1. In a letter sent 22 October to the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWR) has expressed concerns about welfare reform proposals. This coincided with the conclusion of the three month consultation period of the UK Government’s Green Paper on Welfare Reform, No one written off: Reforming welfare to reward responsibility
2. SCoWR was set up in 2006 to highlight the concerns of a broad coalition of organisations working with people experiencing exclusion and poverty in Scotland.  We shared the view that the 2006 Green Paper did not provide either enough support for those wanting to move into work or enough protection for those who are unable to work, and that some aspects of the reforms may lead to people experiencing even deeper poverty.  We also raised similar concerns in 2007 about subsequent government proposals regarding welfare reform and lone parents.
3. The Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform is a broad coalition of organisations concerned at the current UK Government’s welfare reform proposals.  The following are among the organisations have signed the Scottish Campaign for Welfare Reform letter:

Action for Children Scotland

Barnardo's

Capability Scotland

Carr-Gomm Scotland

Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland

Children 1st

Church Action on Poverty

Convener Church & Society Council

Church of Scotland

Citizens Advice Scotland

Dundee Anti Poverty Forum

ECAS - Edinburgh

Energy Action Scotland

Faith In Community (Scotland)

Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living

Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector

Glasgow Disability Alliance

Glasgow University Students' Representative Council

Inclusion Scotland

Leonard Cheshire Scotland

Margaret Blackwood Housing Association

Media Co-op

One Parent Families Scotland

Oxfam Scotland

PCS Union

Rosemount Lifelong Learning

Scottish Alliance of Children’s Rights

Scottish Churches Housing Action

Scottish Churches Social Inclusion Network

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

Scottish Drugs Forum

Scottish Local Government Forum Against Poverty

Scottish Trade Union Congress

Scottish Women’s Convention

The Action Group

The Iona Community

The Poverty Alliance

The Salvation Army

West Dunbartonshire CAB Service

For further information
Please contact: John Dickie, Child Poverty Action Group, 0141 552 3656 or 07795 340 618 Peter Kelly, The Poverty Alliance, 07766 606 454