Posted: 12.11.2008
Immediate Release

"Re-think welfare reforms in face of jobless rise" demand campaigners.

As the numbers facing unemployment in Scotland jumped by 13,000, members of the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform (SCoWER) today urged the Government to rethink controversial welfare proposals that would make claiming out of work benefits even more difficult.

The campaigners are members of a forty strong coalition of charities that wrote to the Work and Pensions Secretary last month raising concerns that proposed welfare reforms were "punitive and undignified".

With increasing numbers of Scottish households now looking to the benefit system for financial support they believe that now is not the time to increase the conditions attached to benefit entitlement. Instead they believe Ministers need to raise levels of benefit that too often currently plunge claimants into poverty.

Citizens Advice Scotland Chief Executive Kaliani Lyle said:

"Given the additional burden that people are facing, we would urge the Secretary of State to reconsider proposals for increased conditions on welfare and instead to look at how the public budget can best be deployed to protect people from poverty."

John Dickie, Head of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland said:

"As the economic situation worsens even more families will be looking to a hopelessly inadequate benefit and tax credit safety net. 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 and be adequately resourced. The government's current proposals fail on all four counts and risk treating people in a punitive and undignified manner."

Peter Kelly, Director of The Poverty Alliance 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."

Sue Robertson, Director of One Parent Families Scotland said:

"This increased pressure on lone parents to seek work when their children are young is totally inappropriate. Government policies designed to support lone parents moving into employment are still failing many, with huge difficulties in tax credits and benefit administration. Lone parents are doing a valuable job bringing up their children and should retain the freedom to put their children first."

Lucy McTernan, Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations said:

" We reject the harsh and punitive tone of Government welfare reform proposals and are concerned that there are large-scale spending implications which will not, of themselves, deliver client benefit. We propose an alternative community option for enhancing labour market participation which addresses Scotland's unique demographics and makes best use of the voluntary sector."

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For further comment, contact:

Marion Davis, One Parent Families Scotland, 0141 847 0444
John Dickie, Child Poverty Action Group, 07795 340 618
Peter Kelly, The Poverty Alliance, 07766 606 454
Mark Ballard, SCVO, 0131 474 8029
Faye Gatenby, Capability Scotland, 0131 347 1055
Lindsay Isaacs, Citizens Advice Scotland, 0131 550 1014

Notes to 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 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 CAB Service