Some of the red (previously DPB) transferred to the dark blue (previously Unemployment but now Job Seeker - Work Ready) as sole parents with youngest child 14 or older, or to the green (previously Invalid) if they were 'DPB - caring for the infirm'.
The green is continuing to grow steadily due mainly to increasing number on welfare due to psychiatric conditions. The growth in psychiatric conditions accounts for 85% of the growth in the last ten years.
The light blue used to be sickness benefit but is now Job Seeker with a health condition or disability. Steady.
Of course when population growth is accounted for the percentage that is working-age welfare has reduced from roughly 14 to just under 11 percent.
However dependency may have deepened in as much as at December 2002 a bigger proportion of the total were on the unemployment benefit which tends not to feature long-term dependence in the way that the Invalid benefit or DPB does.
The latest report into the performance of the benefit system repeatedly expresses concern about the green band.
I somewhat pessimistically wonder what it will look like in another 12 years?
6 comments:
With any luck, in another 12 years people will be sick of all their money being flushed away on benefits and there won't be a benefit system.
George Osbourme's next budget in July will cut welfare by 10%. Do that for 10 years and there won't be any welfare.
Maths lesson: if you reduce something by 10% every year for 10 years, the result is not 0.
Frankly the whole support system with regards to health needs is a shambles. I expect this has a significant baring on the ability for long term SLP recipients to recover.
Health care budgets directly affect welfare. We know from the research that the longer someone is out of work, the worse their health becomes. Even so the mental health system forces long waits before treatment (6months is standard to see a clinical psychologist for example, and longer still if you need something else).
S Beast,
Any thoughts or experience relating to the following?
"In September 2013 a Mental Health Employment Service (MHES) trial was implemented. The service is voluntary for JS clients with common mental health conditions who have part-time or deferred work obligations. It is designed to test whether people with common mental health conditions could, with the right support, be encouraged to move into work. At this stage it is too early to perform a conclusive assessment of the trial’s effectiveness."
Maths lesson: if you reduce something by 10% every year for 10 years, the result is not 0.
tis if you cut linearly from the year zero baseline!
Don't know, possibly because it could be contracted out and might not be called MHES.
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