Monday, 18th January 2010

The full UKIP Welfare Policy statement looks at the main areas in which the State is involved in welfare benefits and suggests a radical overhaul which would replace the existing, complicated system with one that is understandable and fair to all.

1   Welfare State and the Social Costs

* The current welfare state leads to a decline in the work ethic and self reliance. It is also implicated in other social pathologies such as family breakdown, criminality and educational underachievement, and requires dramatic simplification.

 
2  Child Benefit, Child Tax Credits and the Education Maintenance Allowance

* Child Benefit, the Child Trust Fund, Child Tax Credits and the Education Maintenance Allowance should be merged into an enhanced Child Benefit payable for each of the first three children in each family.
 

* The Childcare element of Working Tax Credits, Early Years Funding, Sure Start expenditure and the tax relief on Employer Nursery Vouchers should be replaced with flat-rate, non-means tested nursery vouchers to cover around half the cost of a full-time nursery place for all children aged two to four.

 
3   Housing Benefit and Social (Council) Housing

* Instead of social housing being let at below-market rents with tenants liable for full Council Tax, with social tenants entitled to claim income-related Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, local councils should charge social tenants an all-inclusive rent (rent plus Council Tax), set at a flat percentage of the tenant household’s gross income.

 
* Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit for private tenants should be phased out and replaced with ‘Workfare’ jobs, which will be administered by local councils, to ensure that those who would otherwise not be able to find work can still cover their rent and Council Tax, as well as contributing something of value to the local community (see Appendix 3).

 
4   Job Seekers Allowance and other key benefits

* All other ‘key benefits’ (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Income Support, Carer’s Allowance, Statutory Maternity Pay) as well as student maintenance grants should be rolled into a single, flat-rate Basic Cash Benefit (‘BCB’), set at the same weekly rate as Jobseeker’s Allowance/Income Support.

 
* Entitlement to the BCB should be extended to all low- and non-earners, in particular, to married or co-habiting mothers, students and carers, irrespective of household composition, income or assets.

 
*  The ‘BCB’ should not be means-tested, however, to ensure that claimants are not at an advantage compared to normal taxpayers, claimants would not also be entitled to the enhanced tax-free personal allowance of £11,500 recommended in UKIP’s flat tax policy. Part-time and temporary workers would be allowed to continue claiming the BCB, but once their wages reach the level of the personal allowance, the BCB claimed and the tax paid will net off to nothing.
 

5   Disability Allowance

* UKIP fully supports those who cannot work and have disabilities. UKIP does not propose any changes to Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance or Mobility Allowance.

 
6   Benefit Fraud, Error and Administration

* UKIP proposes to replace a myriad of complicated means-tested benefits with straightforward universal benefits, the running cost of the entire welfare and pensions systems will be no more than £1.7bn, giving a saving to the taxpayer of £8bn.
 

7   Benefits, Immigration and the EU dimension

* EU rules allow immigrants the same benefits as British citizens

* UKIP would only allow entitlement to welfare benefits after a minimum waiting period of ten years and on obtaining British citizenship for those who originally entered the country with a valid work permit or for reasons of marriage to a British citizen. Anyone who had entered the country under any other circumstances would not qualify.

 

8   Welfare dependency and family breakdown

* UKIP would remove the "couple penalty" in benefits for married couples. UKIP would also introduce a flat tax policy that would disincentive young single mothers from getting pregnant purely to obtain financial/benefits advantages.

 
9   Welfare dependency and willingness to work

* UKIP would abolish employers' and employees' national insurance, and introduce a flat tax. This would mean low income workers would keep more of their wages, and thus are not tempted to fall back into welfare dependency.

* UKIP will require those seeking benefits to take part in ‘Workfare’ schemes i.e. some kind of work such as litter collection or graffiti removal. These schemes will be decided upon and run by local councils ( see Appendix 3 ).


10   Part time workers and benefits

* UKIP welfare policy would allow full time carers to work, and not worry about a 'cut off point' at which their benefits will be cut if they earn above a certain amount.

Download the full UKIP Welfare Policy document here (250kb)

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