Osborne is right about Philpott, the system is broken

Osborne is right about Philpott, the system is broken

George Osborne passed comment on the Mick Philpott case yesterday, when he said a debate was needed about whether the state should “subsidise lifestyles like that.”  He was referring to Mick Philpotts 17 children, which he was using as cash cows.  Moving away from Mick Philpott and concentrating on the core message of Osborne’s message, what should the state subsidise?   Our current Welfare system has morphed into something that would be unrecognisable to William Beveridge.

Beveridge’s view on the welfare state was that “the state in organising security should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility; in establishing a national minimum it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by the individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.”  The key to the welfare state was that it was the minimum standard of living, it was never a high standard of living.  It was only supposed to be a safety net to prevent people going without food or losing their house.  It was also based on contributions, today the idea of contributing to one’s own benefits has been lost, for example a school leaver who has put very little in can claim as much as someone who has worked for 20 years.  Also the current system totally fails to promote responsibility it actually promotes irresponsibility, it is easier for young people to get a council house if they have a child it does not matter whether they can afford it or not.  I don’t think it is a coincidence that the UK has such a high level of underage pregnancy, you get money for having the child and when it comes to leaving home you are placed at the top of the housing list.  Also the child benefit despite recent reform is not fit for purpose, how many children should the state support?  1?  2?  6?  There should be a cut of point for child benefit such as you will receive child benefit for your first two children and that is it, the state should not actively encourage people to have more children than they can afford.  The benefit cap is trying to tackle the problem of welfare restricting opportunity but whether it will be successful it is too early to tell,  what we do know though is that for some people it is better to be on benefits that get a low paid job.  These people are not leaches they are victims of a broken system after all would any rational minded person go to work to earn less than they could by not working?  However the benefits system should never be a hurdle to someone getting a job you should always be better off in work or the system is failing after all it is only supposed to be a minimum standard of living.

To conclude Mick Philpott’s are rare in our welfare system but that does not mean that the system is not broken or that it has not lost touch with its founding principles, this was what George Osborne’s message when he made his comments about Mick Philpott's state funded lifestyle.  We currently have an opportunity to reform welfare, some reforms have already been implemented.  But there is still more to be done to reconnect welfare with its founding principles and break Britain’s culture of dependency.