Welfare reforms doomed to fail under cuts agenda

Welfare reforms doomed to fail under cuts agenda

Welfare reforms doomed to fail under cuts agenda

Responding to Iain Duncan Smith’s consultation about changes to the benefits system, Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka said:

“Iain Duncan Smith seems to think he can magic away the benefits bill by encouraging more people into work. But, at a time when the coalition government is planning to cut departmental budgets by half in some cases, the question is, where are the jobs going to come from?

“The government’s own research shows that for every job cut in the public sector, another job will be lost in the private sector, and the cuts could add another one million people to dole queues.

“Rather than driving through its programme of destruction – including damaging cuts to Mr Duncan Smith’s own department – the government should accept the alternative that the economy can only grow by creating jobs and investing in our future.

“There is no such thing as a benefits trap, only a low-pay trap. If Mr Duncan Smith was genuinely interested in getting more people off benefits and into work, he would propose increasing the minimum wage which, currently, is insufficient to lift working people out of poverty.”

ENDS

Notes

– For information and interview requests, contact PCS national press officer Richard Simcox on 020 7801 2747 or 07833 978216

– The Public and Commercial Services union represents civil and public servants in central government. It has more than 300,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies. It also represents workers in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s fifth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich.

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