REAL LIVES Welfare
Welfare– the truth
It’s not
all about so-called
scroungers – welfare
cuts affect us all
60 %
of people on tax credits are currently working
This March, Unite is launching the next step in its campaign against welfare cuts, which will focus around events (such as the recent food bank outside the Commons) and a new Unite website, called Our welfare works, which aims to debunk the myths perpetuated around welfare with real life stories from Unite members.
“Pretty much everyone will know someone who’ll really suffer as the cuts start to bite,” says Unite campaigns officer, James Bevan. “Rather than the mythical ‘scroungers’, it’s real people who are set to be hit.”
Those in lower paid work, people with disabilities and workers made redundant from places like HMV, Jessops, even the Army, will all lose vital support. The impact will plunge hundreds of thousands more children into poverty, make people homeless and break up families. Once more it just seems to be the poorest who are being hardest hit.
“Instead we could be concentrating on sorting out the causes – like low pay, sky- high rents and youth unemployment – to bring the benefit bill down in a positive way,” believes James.
“This website will grow – and part of that will be through sharing real stories about the important role our social security system has played in everyone’s life. So have a look around the site – then get in touch and share your story. You can also get talking about it all on Twitter and Facebook.”
• Visit
www.ourwelfareworks.com 20 uniteWORKS March/April 2013
5 things you didn’t know about welfare
• a tiny 3 per cent of welfare spending goes on benefits to unemployed people, but 42 per cent is spent on the elderly and 21 per cent spent on working families
• if you were a couple with two kids and lost your job you’d receive just £111.45 a week in Job Seekers Allowance
• a single person will only have £71 a week to live on
• only 0.7 per cent of the welfare budget is claimed fraudulently...but up to 24 per cent (£11.77bn) of benefits goes unclaimed
• experts reckon the gap between what the government thinks it should receive in tax versus what it actually gets (the tax gap) is up to £120bn
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