Oxfam: Welfare bill is ‘step in the right direction’
Kate Wareing, Oxfam’s UK poverty director, said in response to the publication of the welfare bill:
“Today’s bill, though a step in the right direction, still lacks a lot of detail. The government must make sure the safety net welfare provides is not being pulled from under our feet. Iain Duncan Smith has largely ignored warnings that people will be forced into destitution, and we want to see real action on his commitment that no one needs to live below the poverty line.
“Welfare is an emergency service that we must be able to access in times of crisis. The NHS would not stop treating a patient after a certain amount of time, yet the government are proposing to take benefits away from those struggling to get a job, an agenda which unfairly stigmatises people for claiming their entitlements.
“Rather than introducing punishments there need to be decent jobs available, which pay enough to live on. The government must recognise that by taking out 36 times more money than they are putting back in they are creating a system that doesn’t have the resources to meet the principles they have set out.
“We are pleased to see there is commitment to making work pay and that the idea of taking away people’s housing benefit has been scrapped. We will work with the government to make sure this bill is a step towards ending poverty, not exacerbating it.
“Paying universal credit to one claimant in a household assumes that money will be fairly shared, but we know that women and children tend to lose out if payments go directly to their husband or partner. Given that women are usually responsible for looking after children and household purse strings, the government needs to look at how to make sure their system works for everyone in a family.”
