A report published today will set out new proposals for a new way of thinking about welfare and an alternative approach to reform.
In the past 30 years, successive governments have tried both to get spending under control and to ensure that those who need it get help. Neither task has been achieved and the public could be forgiven for failing to notice any changes, the report claims.
The report, 2020 Welfare: Life, Work, Locality, published by the 2020 Public Services Trust sets out a route to unlocking citizen action and for greater transparency of welfare spending for ordinary people.
The report identifies the persistent problems facing welfare policy and looks at how these might be addressed.
The commission has identified three systemic shifts in culture, power and finance, which are needed to offer an effective route to reform of public services. These shifts underlie the proposals identified in this report.
They are:
Social welfare accounts – clearer visibility of individual contributions (both financial and social) to, and benefits from, the welfare system and broader public services.
Localised welfare - a 'whole person' and 'whole place' approach to welfare based on local control of integrated employment and welfare services.
Integrated welfare - neighbourhoods are supported in alleviating the long-term drivers of disadvantage in their area by working with the wider locality/sub-region to align their intervention with the dynamics of the local labour market and wider economic development strategy. Ultimately, a regional Living Wage would enable places to lift more people out of welfare support.
2020 Commissioner Bridget Rosewell, who chaired the working group, said: "Welfare spending is the biggest single element in the government budget. Tackling this is crucial to financial management as well as providing the help people need. These three proposals offer a route towards a different way of doing things. There are no magic bullets here but instead a new process to energise a failed system."
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
