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Search forBristol professor: 'We will not let people languish on benefits'
Friday, August 01, 2008, 08:00
Professor Paul Gregg will look at what we should expect people to do and the role that sanctions can play in motivating people to use back-to-work support.
The review was announced by Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell, whose department recently announced a Government green paper on welfare reform.
Professor Gregg said: “During the last decade the welfare system has offered more support to get people back into work and expected more of people in return.
“This has been a central part of what has worked best in recent British welfare policy – with over a million fewer people on out-of-work benefits – while underpinning a fair deal of rights and responsibilities.
“The recent welfare reform green paper set out a number of significant proposals to extend this approach – to new groups and with new expectations. The next phase of reform is to shape a far more personalised system, matching support with expectations of individuals that are effective, appropriate and challenging. I am delighted to be leading this review to set out such a vision and the steps that will be needed to get there.”
The aim of the review is to develop a challenging, appropriate and effective sanction regime tailored to the individual's needs and that motivates people “to do the right thing”.
Mr Purnell said: “We will not let people languish on benefits.
“New evidence published today shows that the conditions and sanctions we have introduced over the last decade have played an important role getting people off benefits and into work.
“But there is still a minority of people who repeatedly fail to do the right thing. It is clear that for them, the current penalties are not effective in changing their behaviour.
“This review will look at what more we can do to further tailor the system to provide the support and the sanctions these people need to get them off benefits and back into work.”
Work and Pensioners secretary James Purnell has invited Bristol Evening Post readers to ask him questions they have about the welfare reform proposals.
You can post questions using story comments here. Mr Purnell will choose 10 questions on August 7 and will reply to this website by August 13.
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