Welfare reform bill - The system is sick and makes people unwell
Dr Hannah Absalom reacts to the welfare reform bill, and reflects on a system that causes more harm to those dependent on it.
On the welfare reform bill passing its second reading, Dr Hannah Absalom said:
“The welfare reform bill passed yesterday thanks to Labour’s partial retreat on its originally proposed PIP changes, which were predicted to push 250,000 people into poverty. But this climb down isn’t a moral shift, it’s a tactical pause dressed as compromise. Following the changes, 150,000 people are still expected to be pushed into poverty.
"Britain has moved far beyond a ‘two-tier’ welfare system, where dignity depends on paperwork, postcode, and patience for punitive assessments, and despair for those dependent on the system is commonplace. PIP has been propping up people failed by minimum benefits that barely cover half of what’s needed to live. Ironically, it supports not only those already sick or disabled, but those who are then made unwell by the system itself. You can’t mean-test your way out of despair, or algorithmically trim grief. The system is sick, and it’s making people sick.
"If Labour truly wants to lead, it must stop flinching from the emotional realities of policy failure, and start governing for people, not markets, and not headlines.”
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Notes for editors
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