04/01/2010 – Election Fever?
With the general election rapidly approaching it is important that the advice sector continues to press politicians of all parties to ensure the future of independent legal advice around areas of social welfare. Already under the current government the legal aid sector has been under serious pressure and it is likely that in an era of large cuts this fundamental right - access to justice -will be further eroded. Both the Tories and Labour are now saying that they want to address issues of poverty and they need to know that access to legal advice has to be a key part of any sensible approach in this area.
Sadly there continues to be a worrying return to talk about the "deserving" and "undeserving" poor. Bullying single mothers and claimants of sickness benefits risks causing serious and damaging harm to large numbers of people. The future of tax credits and further support for the working poor will also continue to be a crucial part of any serious attack on poverty.
One way in which the government could ease claimants' paths out of poverty and eventually back into sustainable work would be by increasing the "earnings disregard" from the risible figure of £5 a week (£10 for a couple, £20 for a single parent). Currently if a claimant earns more than this figure it affects their benefit and this is a serious disincentive to moving back to work by taking on part time or temporary work. The Need Not Greed campaign backed by Oxfam is calling for a much more reasonable but still very modest earnings disregard figure of £50. This would not only ease claimants passage back into work in some case but also help those in poverty keep their heads above water without having to seek loans from the sharks that circle around in the poorest neighbourhoods
Posted by Andy Gregg