Amid the ongoing turmoil of UK politics, there has been much talk of how fair the British social security system is. In the wake of a series of mini-budget U-turns, the chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has affirmed that “there will be more difficult decisions to take on both tax and spending”.
The government has refused to confirm whether social security benefits will be raised in line with inflation. Several high-profile Conservative MPs have voiced concern that higher benefit levels could undermine work incentives among benefit claimants. They contend it would be unfair to those who do not claim benefits for social security levels to rise faster than average earnings.
Such concerns run counter to the evidence. We know that more than two in five universal credit claimants are already in work. Previous attempts to use “a bit more stick”, as the former home secretary Suella Braverman recently put it, have not only failed, but proven counter-productive in helping people get into (more) paid work.
