WELFARE TO WORKHOUSE- THE FIGHT GOES ON

From the Press Association........
Concern grows over benefit reform
41 minutes ago
The Government faces growing concern from backbench Labour MPs about the scale of welfare reform ahead of moves to get more claimants off benefits and into work, it was warned.
A White Paper will be published on Wednesday, which is expected to signal that claimants could have their benefits cut for failing to attend interviews aimed at helping them find work.
Lone parents could also face a stricter regime as part of the Government's drive to get more people into work, including those on incapacity benefit. Labour MPs who campaign on behalf of trade unions in Parliament said opposing the welfare reforms will be one of their main priorities in the coming months.
John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) said: "The Government has got its priorities all wrong. It has allowed the bankers to get away with extravagant bonuses and yet is turning on the poorest and most vulnerable.
"It is lunacy to force people into jobs that are not there and to force lone parents to take-up childcare which is either unaffordable or non-existent.
"There is widespread and growing dismay at the Government's dismantling of the welfare state built by the post-war Labour government. This smacks of unfairness and another 10p tax rate, which will cause revolt and revulsion across the labour and trade union movement."
Child Poverty Action Group chief executive, Kate Green, said: "The new bill should not reform an inadequate welfare state into an authoritarian welfare state. We need to create an active welfare state for the 21st century that empowers the powerless by breaking down barriers to work, increasing economic equality and enabling high-quality, self-directed skills development."
Charity group One Parent FamiliesGingerbread has criticised the Government's decision to force single parents with children aged one and upwards to get job-ready or face benefit cuts as "unnecessary and inappropriate".
Chief Executive Fiona Weir said: "We know that single parents want to work when it is right for their children, but asking them to jump through additional jobcentre hoops is not the way to help them achieve their ambitions. As the Government's own research shows, the threat of benefit cuts has a negligible impact on parents' decisions about when to work.
A Government-commissioned report last week called for unemployed people to do a 9-5 day looking for work or undertake community service-style duties such as digging gardens. Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell strongly welcomed the report, saying its "direction of travel" was the right way.