This is a consequence of the culture wars the Tories pushed in the 90’s with the term benefits thieves. They used this to take as much money out of our support system as they could. Osborne doubled down on that idea.
People need to remember that when they buy into this shit that they are mainly shooting themselves in the foot. Very few people manage their whole lives without needing a little extra support when something goes awry.
You will always get some people who will abuse the system. That should never be an excuse to reduce the benefits of the system. What should happen is more research on the best ways to catch them.
The Tory culture follow a theme of pushing the story that we are paying for someone who is abusing the system, and then they follow that up with the system is too expensive.
They are doing exactly this with the NHS also. Just remember there are other countries that spent much less per capita and yield better results when it comes to medical care. The system they would love to push is the US system. This is the most expensive system in the world and yet the yield is beyond dismal.
The reason we pay out benefits is because there is an additional cost to not paying them. Without social support crime increases, wages actually decrease overall, and Mental and physical health deteriorates overall. There is an additional cost with extra stress added to the NHS and social services who have to deal with this. Kids are affected more than any other group.
There is a benefit in as much as we need less for pension pay outs, as this reduces life expectancy. Good luck with that one.
It’s the word “benefit” that needs to be fought against. It’s “social security” a means of supporting us all when we are vulnerable and need help, not something extra that can be dispensed with.
Thank you for pointing this out, I totally agree.
Being able to afford food, water, shelter is not a bloody “benefit”. This is the absolute minimum we all need to survive.
I remember a heated debate as to whether the state pension and its triple lock should be classed as a benefit.
Just listening to a piece on the radio about food poverty and the frequent reference to not being hungry as a “benefit” was horrific. So much in our society is normalised that is just so wrong.