Damned Dirty Scroungers

I know this isn't a new story but I have thought long and hard about it before posting, imagine the disaster if I posted without thinking.

A while back the government unveiled plans to make all those dirty dole scroungers work for their benefits. This would include community service and its like. They also want to get as many people off sick leave. This is intended to make them look tough on the generational unemployed, the ones we all know about (And who do indeed exist) who pretty much refuse to work and know how to play the system so they don't have to.

First you should know, I'm a big softy when it comes to unemployment benefit, probably why I'd never get voted in by middle England. I personally would love a foolproof system but since that's impossible I'd much prefer to have 5 false claimants of one genuine case can get benefits easily and without hassle.

I have several concerns with this system. Its goal is to get more people back in work, and also more people off "the Sick". This is obviously aimed at the scroungers who use hard to diagnose illnesses such as back problems and stress to get the increased incapacity benefit without the added requirement of needing to look for work. There are also plans to force unemployed people into work or risk suspension of benefits. Or to have them perform community service, such as litter picking or graffiti removal to "Earn" benefits. It makes the government look tough and panders to the Daily Mail brigade's "Make these slackers earn their dole" mantra

That second part really concerns me as it looks a lot like the US "Welfare to Work" scheme, where large companies were given tax breaks to employ people on benefits to make them earn their money. It didn't of course make concessions for such things as childcare, merely getting people on welfare out to work. It was widely criticised for creating a generation of latch key kids and providing big businesses with cheap labour. SO who will we force into jobs, regardless of suitability. Unemployment offices often roll their eyes at people who "Won't work mornings" but distinction should be made between someone who is too lazy to haul themselves out of bed at 8am and someone who can only afford or obtain care for their child in the afternoon.

However the part that really annoys me is that this will hit the wrong people. Your "Doley scrounger" will usually be claiming incapacity benefit, and know the ins and outs to keep themselves medically signed off as unfit for work. If someone is claiming pack pains as a reason not to work then I doubt they will be able to force these people out to pick up litter either. In short your actual scroungers who know the system inside out, will remain on benefits, as will their children. On the other hand, genuine claimants, who don't know the system as well, or are just honest, are more likely to have benefits stopped when they turn down a job because of injury or illness, or will be forced out to work for a pittance while fighting pain, or leaving their kids at home alone. As always, the first to suffer in any bureaucracy are the honest people.