Proposed Welfare Reform Bill “punitive and undignified” says Scottish campaign coalition

Members of the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWER) today responded to the Queens Speech, condemning a proposed Welfare Reform Bill as “punitive and undignified”.

The campaigners are members of a forty strong coalition of charities that previously wrote to the Work and Pensions Secretary raising concerns about the proposed direction of welfare reform.

With increasing numbers of Scottish households now looking to the benefit system for financial support SCoWER members believe that now is not the time to increase the conditions attached to benefit entitlement. Instead they say Ministers must raise benefits levels so that out of work claimants are not plunged into abject poverty.

John Dickie, Head of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, a leading member of the Campaign said:

“There is no question that reform of our welfare system is needed, but such reform needs to treat people with dignity, lift them out of poverty, be adequately resourced and fit with devolved policy on skills and childcare. The current proposals fail on all four counts and treat people in a punitive and undignified manner. The sheer range and number of organizations in the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform shows the scale of the concern the proposals are causing across Scotland.”

Peter Kelly, Director of The Poverty Alliance, another leading coalition member said:

"The UK Government must think again about the direction of its reform of the welfare system. At a time when unemployment is rising it is misguided to put more pressure on people to find work, particularly those who face real barriers getting back to work. If the UK Government is serious about protecting people from poverty as this recession bites, then it most look at the value of welfare benefits, not at penalising people who can't find work."

Notes for editors

1. In a letter sent 22 October to the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWR) has expressed concerns about welfare reform proposals. This coincided with the conclusion of the three month consultation period of the UK Government’s Green Paper on Welfare Reform, No one written off: Reforming welfare to reward responsibility
2. SCoWR was set up in 2006 to highlight the concerns of a broad coalition of organisations working with people experiencing exclusion and poverty in Scotland. We shared the view that the 2006 Green Paper did not provide either enough support for those wanting to move into work or enough protection for those who are unable to work, and that some aspects of the reforms may lead to people experiencing even deeper poverty. We also raised similar concerns in 2007 about subsequent government proposals regarding welfare reform and lone parents.
3. The Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform is a broad coalition of organisations concerned at the current UK Government’s welfare reform proposals. The following are among the organisations have signed the Scottish Campaign for Welfare Reform letter:
   Action for Children Scotland
   Barnardo's
   Capability Scotland
   Carr-Gomm Scotland
   Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland
   Children 1st
   Church Action on Poverty
   Convener Church & Society Council
   Church of Scotland
   Citizens Advice Scotland
   Dundee Anti Poverty Forum
   ECAS - Edinburgh
   Energy Action Scotland
   Faith In Community (Scotland)
   Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living
   Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector
   Glasgow Disability Alliance
   Glasgow University Students' Representative Council
   Inclusion Scotland
   Leonard Cheshire Scotland
   Margaret Blackwood Housing Association
   Media Co-op
   One Parent Families Scotland
   Oxfam Scotland
   PCS Union
   Rosemount Lifelong Learning
   Scottish Alliance of Children’s Rights
   Scottish Churches Housing Action
   Scottish Churches Social Inclusion Network
   Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
   Scottish Drugs Forum
   Scottish Local Government Forum Against Poverty
   Scottish Trade Union Congress
   Scottish Women’s Convention
   The Action Group
   The Iona Community
   The Poverty Alliance
   The Salvation Army
   West Dunbartonshire

For further details
Please contact John Dickie, Head of CPAG in Scotland on 0141 552 3656