News

• 30th July 2010
  

  21st Century Welfare

  After figures were released earlier this week showing people being assessed for their ability to work are overwhelmingly being found fit and able to look for a job, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has today launched the 21st Century Welfare paper which is set to revolutionise the existing benefits system.
  
  In the paper are a series of options which focus on ensuring work always pays and is clearly seen to pay. They include allowing people to keep more of what they earn as they move into work whilst withdrawing benefits at a single, more reasonable rate as people start to earn more money.
  
  Launching the paper Iain Duncan Smith said:
  "A system developed to help the most vulnerable and support people in times of need is trapping people in a cycle of dependency. We are proposing to change forever how the system works. Not tinkering around the edges but a fundamental change from the top to bottom. Making it easier to help people into work, fairer to those who pay for the welfare state and continuing to provide unconditional support to those who need it.”
  
  To read the full DWP press release, please visit: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2010/july-2010/dwp100-10-300710.shtml



• 28th July 2010
  

  Hear directly from the top – confirmed speaker – Chris Grayling MP, Minister for Employment

  Figures released yesterday have shown that people being assessed for their ability to work are overwhelmingly being found fit and able to look for a job.
  
  The latest statistics for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) applications show that three-quarters of applicants are being found fit for work or are stopping their claim before their assessment period has been completed.
  
  Newly confirmed Welfare to Work 2010 speaker, Chris Grayling MP, Minister for Employment said:
  "The vast majority of people who are applying for these benefits are being found fit for work or have stopped their claim. These are people who under the old system would have been abandoned on incapacity benefits. It's a clear indication of why reform is so urgently needed.
  
  "This is exactly why we are going to reassess everyone claiming incapacity benefits for their ability to work, from this October. They will now be given the support they need to get back to work and will be expected to look for work if they are able to do so."
  
  The 3rd Annual Welfare to Work 2010 Conference will provide delegates with an exceptional experience to hear directly from Chris Grayling MP. He will deliver the conference opening keynote address: Getting Britain working – Toward a single ‘Work Programme’. He will outline crucial and timely issues such as the government plans on the Welfare Reform Bill, the single Work Programme and reducing the scope for fraud and error by making the benefits system simpler.
  
  To read the full DWP press release, please visit: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2010/july-2010/dwp095-10-270710.shtml



• 15th July 2010
  

  The third sector has a key role in Welfare Reform...

  Employment Minister Chris Grayling, recently announced a series of reforms to deliver a 21st century welfare system.
  
  The new Work Programme will replace the current back to work schemes and provide a coherent package of support for people out of work, regardless of the barriers they face or the benefits they claim. The government is inviting expressions of interest from the private, public and voluntary sectors to help deliver this.
  
  Contracts worth up to about £50 million a year each will be on offer to voluntary public and private organisations as part of the coalition's proposed programme.
  
  Taking place at the world-class QEII Conference Centre in the heart of Westminster on 4th of November, Welfare to Work 2010 is a timely opportunity to understand the new agenda and discuss the latest strategies to achieve both long-term and sustained employment in Britain.
  
  Pat Samuel CBE, Deputy Director, Public Sector Partnerships, Office for Civil Society, Cabinet Office will provide a plenary address on a ‘Partnership Working – Welfare to Work and the Potential for charities, voluntary and community groups and social enterprises’. This is a key session for the third sector to gain insights into how the government is enhancing the role of charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises in public services.



• 14th July 2010
  

  Grayling: revitalising the economy is crucial to get Britain working

  The Government has welcomed the fall in the latest unemployment figures today but has warned that there is a long way to go in securing the recovery, dealing with the deficit and generating sustainable job growth.
  
  Ministers also warned that one of the key challenges will be to ensure that the five million people who have been left behind on benefits receive the right support to get back into the labour market.
  
  Employment Minister Chris Grayling said:
  "There is still a huge amount of work to do to revitalise the economy and create an environment where businesses are growing and employing people again.
  
  "What concerns me in today’s figures is that while there are more jobs in the economy there is too little evidence of them being taken up by the five million people who were stranded on out-of-work benefits under the previous Government. While there are fewer people on Jobseeker’s Allowance this month, the numbers claiming other benefits remains stubbornly high, and many of these people have been dependent on benefits for years. That’s why we are pressing ahead with the Work Programme to give these people the support they need when they need it."
  
  Ministers have already started to tackle the problem of long term benefit dependency and worklessness by announcing that from October this year some people in Burnley and Aberdeen who claim incapacity benefit will be reassessed to see if they can work. The rest of the country will follow in 2011.
  
  To read the full DWP press release, please visit: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2010/july-2010/dwp089-10-140710.shtml
  
  



• 22nd June 2010
  

  Emergency Budget – Welfare Spending

  In Tuesday’s emergency budget, welfare spending was high on the priority for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon George Osborne MP to assist in the drive to lower the UK’s deficit.  He stated: “It is simply not possible to deal with a budget deficit of this size without undertaking lasting reform of welfare. Total welfare spending has increased from £132 billion ten years ago to £192 billion today.”
  
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer went onto announce the government’s plans to reduce welfare spending by £11bn within the next four years.  The cuts included tax credits reduction for middle income families, child benefit frozen for three years and the introduction of a new medical assessment from 2013 for people claiming Disability Living Allowance.
  
  The 3rd Annual Welfare to Work Conference 2010 is a timely opportunity to understand the new agenda and the welfare reform bill, focus on recent data, locate areas for improvement and discuss the latest strategies to achieve both long-term and sustained employment in Britain.



• 25th May, 2010
  

  Welfare Reform Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech

  In today’s Queen’s Speech, the Welfare Reform Bill was one of the bills revealed as part of the new government’s priority “to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth”, the Queen stated.
  
  The Welfare Reform Bill which will be taken forward by Iain Duncan Smith MP, the new Work and Pensions Secretary and has been proposed to streamline the welfare and benefits system and provide better incentives to work by removing “the confusing complexity of the benefits system”. The Queen stated that “people will be supported into work with sanctions for those who refuse available jobs”.
  
  The Rt. Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is an invited speaker at the 3rd Annual Welfare to Work Conference 2010. He has been invited to discuss the Welfare Reform Bill and how the new coalition government aims to ‘Get Britain Working’.
  
  Please click here to view the full programme.
  
  For further information on the announcement of the Bill please visit: http://www.number10.gov.uk/queens-speech/2010/05/queens-speech-welfare-reform-bill-50598

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