Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Tralfamadore
Posts: 10,343
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Tralfamadore
Posts: 10,343
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Welfare reform and the prosperity gap
Mark Easton
Home editor
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22112965
Quote:
Will the welfare reforms widen or narrow the gap between rich and poor communities in the UK? According to new research published by Sheffield Hallam University on Thursday, cuts to benefit payments will "widen the gaps in prosperity".
The Department of Work and Pensions, however, argues the changes will benefit poorer regions because they "help people back into work - which will benefit the economy more than simply abandoning them to claim benefits year after year."
Here, laid bare, is a fundamental question for the future well-being of the UK. If Iain Duncan-Smith is able to squeeze billions from the welfare bill by getting people into jobs, then he will have achieved what politicians of all hues have failed to do in decades. Deprived post-industrial towns and cities will bloom again.
But the concern is that the welfare reforms will actually take far more money out of fragile poor economies than rich ones, making old industrial areas even less attractive to investors and entrepreneurs. There won't be the jobs for claimants to get into.
The Sheffield Hallam research assesses the geographical consequence of welfare reforms by comparing claimant caseloads in local authorities and factoring in the DWP's own impact assessments. It calculates that, by 2015, a whopping £19bn will be taken out of working-age benefits each year - but the effects are far from even.
Ranking the overall impact in terms of the effect upon the average working-age adult in each place, the town hardest hit is Blackpool, where the annual loss per adult is calculated at £914. One really has to hope new jobs do come because this is a place with pockets of truly shocking deprivation. Over a quarter of the town receives working-age benefits.
One of the authorities affected least by the welfare reforms is Hart in Hampshire - a community which enjoys precisely zero wards designated as deprived. Here the average working-age adult will lose £241, according to the Sheffield Hallam study, just over a quarter of the impact felt in Blackpool.
10 local authorities most affected by welfare reforms
Loss for each working-age adult a year
Blackpool, north-west England: £914
Westminster, London: £821
Knowsley, north-west England: £797
Merthyr Tydfil, Wales: £722
Middlesbrough, north-east England: £717
Hartlepool, north-east England: £712
Torbay, south-west England: £704
Liverpool, north-west England: £702
Blaenau Gwent, Wales: £698
Neath Port Talbot, Wales: £696
Source: Sheffield Hallam University
10 local authorities least affected by welfare reforms
Loss for each working-age adult a year
Chiltern, south-east England: £266
South Bucks, south-east England: £264
Guildford, south-east England: £263
South Northamptonshire, East Midlands: 261
South Oxfordshire, south-east England: £258
Rutland, East Midlands: £258
Wokingham, south-east England: £251
Cambridge, east England: £247
Hart, south-east England: £241
City of London £177
Source: Sheffield Hallam University
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Surprise, surprise ..... there's a North-South divide .....
Last edited by Omah; 13-04-2013 at 11:41 AM.
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