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Good Society > Published by Daniel Elton, December 12th 2011 at 3:55 pm

Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill

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While coalition partners battle over whose European stance damages the City more, the welfare reform bill reaches its report stage in the House of Lords today – the final chance before the final yes/no vote by peers to affect it.

Iain-Duncan-SmithThe Bill may be being spearheaded by the seer of compassionate conservatism, work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, yet it penalises many of the most vulnerable in our society, especially the disabled.

It is a direct example of how the counter-productive attempt at rapid deficit reduction is being balanced on the backs of the poorest. There are many problems with the bill, but here are five:

1) Time-limiting Employment and Support Allowance

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is mainly intended for those who are disabled or ill but can work. It provides extra financial and personal support, such as training, to enable the disabled to get back into work.

Under the bill, if an ESA claimant  has

• Worked in the past and previously paid national insurance

• Can perform some kind of work and

• They either have a partner earning at least £7,500 per year or limited savings

they will lose the benefit completely after one year of claiming

Let us put aside the rather conservative point that this reform will be a disincentive to saving or to the partner  of the claimant working. At a time when many are predicting a recession, and therefore today’s high unemployment to hold or increase, ministers estimate that at the end of the year 94 per cent of claimants will become ineligable.

In the absence of jobs or benefits, we are throwing hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable people, including those with MS, cancer, Parkinson’s, bowel disease, kidney failure, heart disease, lung disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and their families to the wolves.

Liberal Democrat Conference passed a motion asserting that ESA should not be time limited. Maybe after a week in which the Tories have called the coalition tune on Europe, it is time for the Lib Dems to push for one of their policies. To lobby a Lib Dem peer, see Sue Marsh’s Diary of a Benefit scrounger blog here.

2) As Disability Living allowance (DLA) , intended for those with more long-term conditions, is replaced by Personal Independence Payments (PIP), it is stated aim  of ministers to reduce expenditure by the arbitrary figure of 20 percent.

Worryingly, because the level of PIP will be determined by what the claimant can do, not what they cannot, and the current work capacity assessments tend to be very ‘generous’ in ascribing abilities to claimants, many may lose much-needed support.

For example, watch this video of Kaliya Franklin who blogs at Benefit Scrounging Scum and lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, who, because she can physically walk, may be categorised as ‘fully mobile’:

People like Kaliya will face cuts, and statistics showing how they can work will no doubt be pushed out to the Daily Mail and the other tabloids to demonstrate to the wider public how they are merely being feckless.

3) The bill will cut provision to those who were disabled from before working age.

As Declan Gaffney explained on Left Foot Forward in September:

“Clause 52 of the bill, will prevent hundreds of thousands of young people with lifetime or early-onset disabilities from accessing contributory ESA when they reach working age, whether or not they are deemed capable of any ‘work-related activity’.

“People who have been disabled since childhood will no longer be entitled to benefit in their own right as adults but will be subject to means testing based on the income of their family.

“The provision that clause 52 abolishes allowed people under 20 with work-limiting conditions to be treated as if they met the national insurance contributions for ESA.

“The rationale was that people with conditions that begin in childhood may never be able to accumulate sufficient contributions to entitle them to the non-means tested benefit

“This arrangement prevented a situation where people with lifetime or early-onset conditions would generally have less favourable entitlements than people who became disabled in adulthood.

We can get a rough idea of the numbers who will affected by clause 52 and the conditions they are living with from figures on children receiving Disability Living Allowance, the non-means tested benefit which compensates for the additional costs faced by disabled people.

“There are an estimated 327,000 children under 16 currently receiving DLA. By far the most important disabling condition for this group is learning disability (41 per cent), followed by mental health problems (10 per cent).

“While not all of these children will be eligible for ESA in adulthood, and there will be many who are eligible for ESA who are not receiving Disability Living Allowance, these figures do point to one important implication of clause 52: given that around 75 per cent of 25-34 year-old DLA recipients are also on ESA, a large proportion of those affected will have learning difficulties or mental health problems at the more severe end of the spectrum.”

4) The housing benefits cap is anti-community and anti-families

As we now know about this government, when it comes to the choice between good governance and good headlines, its usually the latter that wins out. So it was arguably their spinners’ greatest day when they announced capping housing benefit to average earnings, forcing the opposition to side with unpopular ‘scroungers’.

The tragedy here is that the reform will break up communities. The scandal is that it shows up how compassionate conservative thinking is, in many ways, bunk.

Traditional conservatives argue that compassion comes not from the state but from communities. Here families, often brought together by places of worship, are the bedrock of society. Rather than the forced taxation of the state, here the volunteer and charity gladly help thier fellow man or woman.

But how can we expect a renewal in volunteering, of a sense of community and belonging a place, if the sole dictate of where people live is markets? What future for the West Indian community in Notting Hill in Kensington, or the Chinese community in Soho in Westminster, if sky high rents push out the working poor?

Instead of having a system of housing benefit, much larger council housing provision would be preferable, and cheaper for the Treasury in the medium to long term. However, with the government offering a further discount on buying council houses but no concerted effort for a large expansion in council housing, we seem set to see the working poor being driven out of inner London.

I’m sure Cameron will still be able to enjoy the Notting Hill Carnival around the corner from where he lives. It’s just a shame he will have contributed to a hollowing out of the community that created it.

It also discourages families from staying together. As Sam Royston of the Children’s Society explained on Left Foot Forward:

“This welfare cap would introduce one of the most substantial couple penalties ever seen in the benefits system. Couples have a higher benefit entitlement than single people. Job Seekers Allowance for a couple is £38.45 per week higher than for single people.

“Therefore, compared to current entitlements, a couple with children and benefit entitlement in excess of the cap would lose up to £2,000 per year more than an equivalent single-parent household.”

5) The  universal credit system discourages work

The new universal credit system, intended to consolidate an array of benefits into one payment, essentially redistributes resources from single parents or lower earners in a household that work more than 16 hours a week to those that work less. We are in the strange position were a Conservative led government is encouraging people to work less.

As Donald Hirsch at the Resolution Foundation explained:

“For second earners working part time in families with low overall income, a new basis for withdrawing support as family income rises will greatly reduce the amount of pay that is retained below the  income tax threshold.

“At present, the first £139 a week of earnings of the partner of someone receiving tax credits is free of tax and national insurance, but causes tax credits to fall by 41p for every £1 earned.

“This has risen from 39p in 2010, and will jump to 65p under Universal Credit. For a second earner working under 16 hours a week, this loss will offset the gain from becoming eligible for childcare support. Someone on the minimum wage will only be about £1 better off for each hour worked.

“But the real change will be to the incentive to take a part time job of 16 hours or more, where now someone on the minimum wage can gain about £50 a week or more from doing so. Under Universal Credit, the same second earner takes home less than £20 in some cases.”

So we have a bill that pins deficit reduction on some of the most vulnerable, will split communities and discourage work. The Liberal Democrat Conference highlighted several problems with it. But now peers from all parties of good conscience must oppose it.

See also:

• Life in the Lords logjam may be death for the health bill – Alex Hern, December 2nd 2011

• Appeal backlog reveals false economy of the welfare cuts – Alex Hern, November 28th 2011

• On welfare reform, IDS is ignoring the ERAD project; Miliband must not join him – Stephen Evans, October 7th 2011

• Yet another nasty in the welfare bill: Means testing support for the disabled-since-youth – Declan Gaffney, September 22nd 2011

• Society and the media are failing the sick and disabled – Sue Marsh, May 13th 2011

  • Arecbalrin

    If I may also add something; the case law history for DLA will not be preserved. What growth there has been among working-age DLA claimants can at least be owed in part to them appealing against decisions and then tribunals setting precedents down. Simple stuff like “the assessor has to apply the WHOLE test”, yes they really did get away with that because they were not legally obliged to do so. Others found certain rules about applying descriptors to be discriminatory.

    DLA isn’t being reformed, it’s being replaced with an entirely new benefit. The legal precedents will no longer apply and disability campaigners will have to start those battles from scratch. This it seems is why the government gave way on the issue of care home residents having Mobility cut; they do not need to actually have that in the bill to implement it. They may say they are not going to do it now but so far the value of their word has stood for nothing. The reason why care home residents got Mobility was because of a tribunal ruling that will be null and void when PIP comes in. Care home residents will go back to being simply defined as ‘hospitalised’ and therefore ineligible for any form of PIP. The government realised they don’t need to put it in the bill, they don’t even need to put it in the regulations next year. Once the bill passes, the Secretary of State can take away Mobility at the stroke of a pen.

  • http://twitter.com/lisybabe Lisa Egan
  • tiajunior
  • Ed’s Talking Balls

    You’re bang wrong on point 4.

    Please justify why it is right that someone who doesn’t work should claim more in housing benefit than someone who works can earn in a year. Perhaps you could then explain why someone who slogs their guts out at a job they hate, (only to see their meagre salary taxed to the hilt and eroded by inflation) and then spends the vast majority of their hard-earned cash on extortionate rent to live in an undesirable borough should be happy to hear that someone who doesn’t work can live in Kensington, where they themselves could never even dream of living.

  • http://twitter.com/janemoth/status/146353132916576256 Jane Lowry

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/OS3UztAB

  • http://twitter.com/cekxoxo/status/146353626179309568 Claire

    Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill: http://t.co/894iAv9k by @DanielElton #PeerPressure #No2IDS

  • http://twitter.com/suey2y/status/146360260876185600 Sue Marsh

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/psab3WCj

  • http://twitter.com/miss_goodwill/status/146360535158505472 susan goodwill

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/psab3WCj

  • http://twitter.com/pcs_nstaffs/status/146360602879733760 PCS DWP North Staffs

    Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill: http://t.co/CNOUgUmw by @DanielElton #PeerPressure #No2IDS (via @leftfootfwd)

  • http://twitter.com/redstar987/status/146360675734790144 Redstar PCS Stoke

    “@FalseEcon: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill: http://t.co/f8JPNvUD by @DanielElton #PeerPressure #No2IDS (via @leftfootfwd)”

  • http://twitter.com/jhsmith/status/146365435842011138 Jen Smith

    “@FalseEcon: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill: http://t.co/f8JPNvUD by @DanielElton #PeerPressure #No2IDS (via @leftfootfwd)”

  • Arecbalrin

    That isn’t an argument for a cap, that is an argument against Housing Benefit existing at all. It’s a lazy and tired rhetorical point with little basis in reality that carries on being ressurected by this government and its cheerleaders because it’s easier to make that claim than it is to explain the complex nexus of circumstances and eligibility that underpin what is wrong with it.

    Housing Benefit is not an out of work benefit and whilst an unemployed claimant will receive more of it, only in exceptionally desperate cases are they better off not working whilst claiming it. The matter of unemployed people VS employed people is a red herring of the wilfully ignorant.

  • http://twitter.com/hazzyc/status/146365893448974337 Harriet Elena Clarke

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/psab3WCj

  • http://twitter.com/thephoenixtree/status/146368979852722176 THE PHOENIX TREE

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/7W7MeOj8

  • http://twitter.com/Newsbot9 Newsbot9

    So the family splits up, the disabled kid ends up in an expensive care home and the taxpayer foots a far bigger bill. *claps*

  • http://twitter.com/Newsbot9 Newsbot9

    You’re missing a bunch of other nasty stuff for low-income single workers as well, but we rarely get mentioned.

    Moreover, the HB cap affects relatively few people. The HB value slash affects the vast majority of claimants, and is designed to make it progressively worth less and less! It’s designed to cause social cleansing…

  • http://twitter.com/DarkestAngeL31 DarkestAngel

    No one has mentioned the in-work conditionality. The fact that people will be sanctioned if they aren’t earning as much as the powers that be decide they should be. That will put added pressure on families, especialy single parents who have to pay for the extra childcare for those hours. I have 3 children, when I have to sign on when my youngest is 5 I have to find the money for childcare because remember, tax credits will be abolished, putting me in an impossible position. The position on funding for childcare has not been adequately explained. The social fund will no longer exist either which means claimants will no longer be able to get an interest free loan or even a grant for essentials such as beds, washing machines, clothes or cookers. That will plunge many families into debt. Disabled children are going to have their benefits cut, it was voted through the house of lords today. I worked, my parents worked, and if i could afford the childcare I’d be working now! My parents did not pay into the system to have it punish me and my children for existing. They did not pay into the system to have people like Iain Duncan Smith preach to me about family values and tell me I’m not a worthy human being because I escaped a violent marriage. I didn’t pay into the system to be faced with the prospect of living under the poverty line for the rest of my life because I’m damned if i work and damned if I don’t. This bill is going to destroy lives.

  • http://twitter.com/becca_boot/status/146418942058045440 Rebecca Boot

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/psab3WCj

  • http://twitter.com/sarahrossy/status/146519767782658049 Sarah Ross

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  • http://twitter.com/creativecrip/status/146530866494062592 TheCreativeCrip

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  • http://twitter.com/pinkichiban/status/146536398068002816 Emma

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/psab3WCj

  • Ray27

    No, what is wilfully ignorant is when people on the left make out that Housing Benefit is predominently a benefit for the working poor – in fact only 14% of the total Housing Benefit caseload are working households. Housing benefit tapers out at a very rapid rate if claimants start working again and is it a major disincentive to work, particularly in areas where rents are so high, such as London.

    It is self-evidently ludicrous to ordinary working people that people who do not work can claim tens of thousands of pounds a year to pay a fat-cat private landlord in central London while they themselves have to commute into town from the outer boroughs or the suburbs. The working poor, the unemployed and those who are unable to work would all be better off if we spent some of the massive £21bn annual housing benefit budget on some decent social housing instead of shovelling it into the pockets of private landlords year after year. It is hugely disappointing that Labour continues to support this racket instead of coming up with some decent, common sense, centre-left policies on welfare and housing.

  • http://twitter.com/occupysl/status/146561167769337856 OccupySL

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/psab3WCj

  • http://twitter.com/rowenanews/status/146648928505438208 Rowena Harding

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/labour_dave/status/146674509821390848 David Marsden

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/DarkestAngeL31 DarkestAngel

    You might want to have a look at this http://static.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/jonesj/docs/ten-myths-housing-benefit-reforms.pdf It might just educate you about a few of those myths you seem to be regurgitating all over this page :) I’m lucky, I have a low rent at the moment but my housing benefit doesn’t cover it because my council decided to work my benefit out weekly, my rent is paid monthly, so I have a shortfall most months.

    Social housing is set to be reformed aswell, people like me, who don’t have the time to volunteer in their community because of caring responsibilities will not be allowed to live in social housing. You either work, volunteer or suffer in private rented accommodation. Grant Shapps did have an idea of putting us all onto canal boats though. I’ll have to get my two toddlers swimming lessons.

    Just a little point, we will only be eligible for the 30th percentile of rents. Welcome to the slums. I’m already looking to move me and my 3 kids into a 2 bedroomed house/flat. I’ll be sleeping in the living room, my 13 year old doesn’t want to share a room with her 3yr old and 2yr old siblings.

    It’s nothing to do with the left or right. This bill is going to devestate the lives of children, the disabled and pensioners all across britain, but IDS is happy with that, as long as it saves his department money.

  • http://twitter.com/creativecrip/status/146735789185839104 TheCreativeCrip

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/abeneplacito84/status/146736181219045376 Warren O’Keefe

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/e_lisney/status/146736831998865408 eleanor

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/alice_pink/status/146737066456260608 Alice Pink

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/natalieben/status/146738962529124352 natalieben

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/gordonwright/status/146740417747099648 Gordon Wright

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/bobirving99/status/146748964639748097 Bob Irving

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/welshcollie7/status/146759066893549568 Welshcollie

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/juderobinson/status/146931321858555904 CllrJuderobinson

    The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children: http://t.co/do3fAe7c #PMQs

  • http://twitter.com/c_a_jonestechno/status/146931407153938432 CAROLE JONES

    The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children: http://t.co/GquGOlY0 #PMQs

  • http://twitter.com/poutingpou/status/146931997598695424 Kyron Hodgetts

    The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children: http://t.co/do3fAe7c #PMQs

  • http://twitter.com/bpaccdotnet/status/146932845728907264 Bournemouth Anticuts

    The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children: http://t.co/do3fAe7c #PMQs

  • http://twitter.com/paulbell1971/status/146936655780126720 Paul Bell

    The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children: http://t.co/do3fAe7c #PMQs

  • http://twitter.com/socjustjackie/status/146942241552863232 Jackie Lowthian

    The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children: http://t.co/do3fAe7c #PMQs

  • http://twitter.com/frances__ryan/status/146964873438437377 frances ryan

    Must read > 'The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children': http://t.co/LztZ6hEE @leftfootfwd

  • http://twitter.com/jintyg51/status/146971635390480384 Janet Graham

    The welfare bill is balancing the budgets on the backs of disabled children: http://t.co/do3fAe7c #PMQs

  • http://twitter.com/shezzle0/status/146980370959712257 Shez

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/JD2jwR5z

  • Ray27

    I’m not sure quite what I’ve said that you think qualifies as myths that I need educating about?? If you want to fact-check my post:

    - “14% of the total Housing Benefit caseload are working households” that stat is taken from this article:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11637928

    Although that article is a year old – the most recent figures show that now just under 17% of HB are in employment:
    http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/hbctb_release_dec11.xls
    (Table 6: 834,970 claimants out of 4,934,110)

    - “Housing benefit tapers out at a very rapid rate” – moving from welfare to work can mean that you lose up to 65p in HB for every £1 you earn plus another 20p in Council Tax benefit. Add other factors such as travel costs, child tax credit withdrawal and for some people it is barely worth going back to work. But don’t take my word for it though, read what Crisis and Shelter have to say on the subject:
    http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/publications/26070810HousingBenefitsnotBarriersFINAL.pdf

    - “people who do not work can claim tens of thousands of pounds a year to pay a fat-cat private landlord in central London”

    Of course, the average HB claim nationally is lower than this and the shift in eligibility from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile saves the DWP more money than the cap. But we are specifically talking about the Housing Benefit cap because that is what is referred to in point 4 of the original article and that mainly affects central London. Tens of thousands of pounds ARE paid out in many cases because the new capped rates are:
    £250pw or £13,000 per year
    £290pw or £15,080 per year
    £340pw or £17,680 per year
    £400pw or £20,800 per year

    So the only claims affected are those that are higher than these amounts. The Guardian highlighted one of the affected households last week:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/06/housing-benefit-caps-force-families-out?CMP=twt_gu

    They note that her rent is £795 per week which is £41,340 – that is a huge sum of money, way beyond the means of ordinary working people who pay for it through tax, and every penny goes into the pocket of her (no doubt very well off) landlord.

    I’ve no interest in defending Shapps social housing policy as I’m not a Tory voter – but from a Labour point of view isn’t enriching landlords in this way a crazy use of public money when we could and should have invested it instead in building more social housing?

  • http://twitter.com/paul_trembath/status/147276878531674112 Paul Trembath

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  • http://twitter.com/bendygirl/status/147277485636202497 BendyGirl

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  • http://twitter.com/merseymal/status/147277623049990145 Mal Ғгαпкѕ

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  • http://twitter.com/williamjmcevoy/status/147278108142206976 William McEvoy

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  • http://twitter.com/headlesslamarr/status/147279186933989376 Hedley Lamarr

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  • http://twitter.com/berthaberserker/status/147288398581874688 BerthaBerserker

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  • http://twitter.com/sparkscomeforth/status/147290174253056000 E’Liza Gedrych

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  • http://twitter.com/xraypat/status/147296803644112896 Patricia Farrington

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  • http://twitter.com/mewstone75/status/147349727640428544 mewstone75

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/migdurbeville/status/147362354810728448 Wendy Hibbs

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  • http://twitter.com/adpucci/status/147694768057626624 Pucci D

    Sadly, @Tanni_GT's amendment y'day defending disabled children from cuts fell by TWO votes. Read how awful DWP bill is: http://t.co/ghNnVBFs

  • http://twitter.com/occupysl/status/148094895301726208 OccupySL

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  • http://twitter.com/patspetition/status/148097737932541952 patspetition

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  • http://twitter.com/warriet/status/148105006988525569 David W Edwards

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  • http://twitter.com/lilacwheelz/status/148111548366323712 Lilacwheelz

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  • http://twitter.com/eugene_grant/status/148180165086806017 Eugene Grant

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  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/12/welfare-reform-bill-housing-benefit-social-housing-iain-duncan-smith/ Could the welfare bill signal the death of social housing? | Left Foot Forward

    [...] also: • Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill – Daniel Elton, December 12th [...]

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/12/top-videos-of-2011-number-10/ Top videos of 2011: #10: Matt Baker breaks ranks | Left Foot Forward

    [...] also: • Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill – Daniel Elton, December 12th [...]

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/01/time-to-step-forward-on-the-spartacus-report/ Time to step forward on the Spartacus report | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill – Daniel Elton, December 12th [...]

  • http://twitter.com/deardaveandnick/status/156799119665541121 Bern O’Donoghue

    RT @leftfootfwd: Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill http://t.co/6HgpkBle #welfarereform balancing the deficit on the backs of the poor

  • Frangipani8949

    No doubt some tabloid journalist will now dig up and/or invent a story that will convince the publice that this beautiful lady is faking it.

  • http://twitter.com/2020uk/status/159610851333120000 Team 2020UK

    How the benefits cap will tear up communities: #PMQs http://t.co/do3fAe7c

  • http://twitter.com/fergusonkeith/status/159611048364748800 keith ferguson

    Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill | Left Foot Forward – http://t.co/ZTxUOkIu

  • http://twitter.com/britishroses1/status/159614536800931840 BevR

    How the benefits cap will tear up communities: #PMQs http://t.co/do3fAe7c

  • http://twitter.com/robertmcruer/status/159618560157687808 Robert McRuer

    How the benefits cap will tear up communities: #PMQs http://t.co/do3fAe7c

  • http://twitter.com/jintyg51/status/159622949329047552 Janet Graham

    How the benefits cap will tear up communities: #PMQs http://t.co/do3fAe7c

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/01/it%e2%80%99s-nearly-time-for-the-dwp%e2%80%99s-quarterly-love-in-with-the-tabloids/ It’s nearly time for the DWP’s quarterly love-in with the tabloids | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill – Daniel Elton, December 12th [...]

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/01/exposed-six-myths-of-the-benefits-cap/ Exposed: The six myths of IDS’s benefits cap | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Five reasons to oppose the welfare bill – Daniel Elton, December 12th [...]

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/02/the-three-welfare-amendments-the-lords-must-fight-for/ The three welfare amendments the Lords must fight for | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Elton explains: Employment and support allowance (ESA) is mainly intended for those who are disabled or ill but [...]