Beveridge principle bites the dust writes Public Finance

The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services, known commonly as the Beveridge Report was an influential document in the founding of the Welfare Statein the United Kingdom. It was chaired by William Beveridge, an economist, who identified five “Giant Evils” in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease, and went on to propose widespread reform to the system of social welfare to address these. Highly popular with the public, the report formed the basis for the post-war reforms known as the Welfare State, which include the expansion ofNational Insurance and the creation of the National Health Service.

Source : Wikipedia

Sick and disabled claimants are about to have their contributory allowances severely capped. It marks an end to Beveridge’s concept of social insurance

Today marks a watershed in the history of the welfare state. It is the last day that the contributory principle – the concept of social insurance that underpinned Beveridge’s vision – remains intact.

This is because tomorrow 70,000 ill and disabled people will lose their Contributory Employment and Support Allowance – a benefit that provides financial support for those who become unemployed due to illness or disability, in return for the national insurance contributions they made during their working life.

160,000 people will eventually lose ESA this year. But they won’t lose this benefit because the amount they contributed in national insurance is inadequate. Oh no. They will lose their ESA because the government has decided that those claiming C-ESA should only be able to claim it for one year – regardless of how much they have contributed.

One year, the government reasons, is plenty of time for a disabled person to find a job. This rule only applies to those in the Work Related Activity Group, after all – a group who have been judged to be capable of work at some point in the future. So by ‘in the future’ one must now read ‘in twelve months’…

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@ Beveridge principle bites the dust | Public Finance Opinion.