Hi there,
not sure if your criticism is that spot on, given that the reforms have just been announced in a
green paper and still have to go through consultation. Also the benefits system in the UK is quite
different from the one in the US. So why not wait and see what it looks like once the legislation is
on the table in its final shape?
Just one point certainly is worth highlighting. Your critique assumes that there is going to be a
push to get people off benefit at all costs. Well, it seems to me to be the other way round. Time
and time again i speak to young people with learning disabilities who actually WANT to work but the
benefits advisors temper their enthusiasm to say the least. So far the government wanted them NOT to
work, now, with the new green paper, perhaps the emphasis has shifted and that may give people with
disabilities a chance to hold the government to their promises. So, let's see and wait...
As for learning from the US, well the figures for employment of people for learning disabilities are
simply better than the comparable figures for the UK. that should be a good enough reason to look
what they are doing right, shouldnt it?
Axel
>>> Mitzi Waltz <[log in to unmask]> 23/07/08 12:52 PM >>>
I can't help but shake my head at the UK government's insistence on
believing that the "Wisconsin experiment" actually resulted in great
outcomes--other than the obvious one of saving the state loads of money
and to some extent proving a compliant workforce for fast food
restaurants, nursing homes and other low-level employers, who have
actually been its greatest beneficiaries.
Here are just a few of its unintended consequences:
* Low-level jobs in local and state government that had been within the
reach of working class people (i.e., garbage collection, file clerking,
laundry room work) now being done by workfare recipients for pennies on
the dollar. Result: people who had been working at a stable job out of
work, people who had been on benefits still on benefits but working to
get them.
* People being pushed from benefits into a workplace that doesn't
actually offer stable full-time employment, and therefore working two or
three part-time jobs to get by. Result: Income insecurity, children
being left home alone or in cars while parents work as they can't pay
for day care on unreliable wages, people on and off benefits, in and out
of housing, worsening mental and physical health.
* harsh sanctions applied to people with disabilities/parents caring for
disabled children to "motivate" them--in the US, several states remove
benefits for children when the parent misses an appointment, leaving the
entire family destitute. Result: child endangerment, health
endangerment, increased hunger and homelessness, people turning to
prostitution or theft to survive.
And there are many more. It's not like these things aren't known--since
the "Wisconsin experiment" has been rolled out across the US over the
past several years there have been multiple studies done showing abuses
and unintended consequences. It's important to note as well that
Wisconsin was originally dealing with a rather different population than
the UK (or most US states): AFDC (now TANF) recipients were primarily
single parents, not "jobseekers" in the UK sense, or people receiving
benefit because of their disability (many TANF recipients have
disabilities or care for disabled children, of course--and this is the
population that every study has shown the "reforms" cause worsening
outcomes for!).
For a flavour of what you may expect, please see:
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2003/familysupports.htm
BTW, my family has had recent experience of the US benefits "system,"
such as it is, and it has been truly painful. My daughter was on TANF
for two years (her lifetime limit!) and the mandatory classes were
intrusive in the extreme. Recipients were required to discuss past
experiences of substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, etc in a
public forum with strangers--very intimidating and unpleasant under any
circumstances--then hear their accounts "judged" in public a la Trisha
by uneducated, nasty caseworkers. And that was just the introductory
sessions. You were shamed for being unmarried, for having had sex, for
being poor. There was a nasty racial tinge to a lot of it. If you
attended one-to-one counselling sessions, what you said "in confidence"
was shared with the people who decided whether you got benefits. They
had no understanding at all of mental ill health, or of what community
support was required for single mothers to work. Recipients were told
that they had to take any job on offer, regardless of whether it offered
health insurance or could be reached via public transport, regardless of
whether child care was available during the hours given. Many of the
jobs on offer were shift work or things like night janitor, night nurse
aide or security guard. My daughter managed to dodge this (she's a smart
cookie, and my own experience as a "welfare mother" back in the Reagan
years still came in handy in helping her work the system) but she knows
for certain that of those in her group who were forced to take night
jobs, their children were being left at home alone or with
"boyfriends"--and I don't need to spell out the dangers of either
option--unless the lass was lucky enough to have a mother or grandmother
handy.
Why is it that the UK government still seems to think that "it comes
from America" is a point in anything's favour, whether it's welfare
reform or privatising IT systems? Arrrgh...
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