This is from the Office for Budget Responsibility, in 2023:
The message is, don't be disabled in the UK: we really do not support those who are at all well.
I wonder what Sir Jim Ratcliffe has to say about that?
Or Farage? I can't help but think they are mates.
We really do need a politics for people that can deliver a politics of care.
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It is going to take years to rid our society of cynical Thatcherite thinking.
I’m sure that if Farage and Ratcliffe weren’t already mates, they will be now.
I’m sure Farage will be tapping him up for a few quid!
Pretty shameful, indeed.
But surprising to see Germany and Ireland coming out worse…
Richard, this type of information on welfare rarely seems to make it to mainstream media in my opinion.
They prefer the real stories about people getting free cars or just sponging off the taxpayers or some other easy to digest story about our apparently over generous welfare system.
People have been conditioned over many years to think of welfare in this way. Politicians and the Media have done this.
They are encouraged not to see Welfare as a cradle to grave support mechanism for all but instead a meagre time constrained handout where you are rigorously tested to ensure your worthy.
I think the UK public can not escape this mentality because these messages are reinforced every day. Badenoch is doing now during PMQs and the BBC is putting it on our screens.
What to do about this?
Share this type of information of course but we also need alternative real stories too that the public can digest more readily.
When I was a lad stories like the TV programme “Cathy come home” helped bring some balance to views on welfare but it didn’t last.
Cathy was a fallen woman, undeserving etc. Cried some.
It seems a constant battle to remind people to be caring.
What’s the hymn quick to bless slow to chide!
You’re right — and it’s deliberate.
For decades social security has been reframed as charity for others rather than as social insurance for all of us. That makes it easy to sell stories about scroungers and supposedly free cars while ignoring that most welfare spending goes on pensions, disability support, low-paid workers and families who simply cannot make ends meet because wages are too low and the costs of living too high.
This narrative serves a purpose. If people fear social security, they don’t ask why wages are low, housing unaffordable or public services underfunded. They blame neighbours instead of the system.
What helps?
Tell the truth about what social security really is i.e. cradle-to-grave insurance we all use. Share real stories that show dignity, not stigma. And keep linking benefits to security and care, not pity.
It’s slow work, but myths only persist if we let them go unchallenged.