COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

George Osborne said a Tory government would save £3bn by freezing benefits for working-age people for two years after the general election.



The UK chancellor said in his speech to the Conservative party conference on Monday that benefits had been rising more than earnings, a situation that was not sustainable for any nation.

Pledging that pensioners would be excluded from the freeze, he said that the £3bn of annual savings would make a “serious contribution” to reducing the deficit. Welfare made up a third of the entire government budget.

Mr Osborne also predicted that the next government would have to find £25bn of savings to cut Britain’s deficit, saying that only the Tories had shown the “discipline” to tackle the country’s debts in recent years.

“The problem for Britain is not that it taxes too little – it spends too much,” he told delegates in Birmingham.

The welfare announcement comes a day after Mr Osborne said a Tory government would cut the maximum benefits a household could claim in a year from £26,000 to £23,000.

The freeze would affect Jobseeker’s Allowance, tax credits, universal credit, child benefit, income support, the Employment and Support Allowance and housing benefit, and would save £1.6bn in 2016-17, rising to £3.2bn a year in 2017-18, according to the Conservatives.

As well as pensioner benefits, disability benefits and the carer’s allowance will be excluded.

Benefits to be paid onto smart cards to stop claimants spending their money on alcohol or gambling



Benefits could to be paid onto smart cards to stop claimants wasting taxpayers money on alcohol or gambling.

Iain Duncan Smith today announced the first trial of pre-paid cards, which would restrict where the jobless or poor can spend their money.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said he was increasingly concerned about the way benefits could be used to fuel addictions, instead of putting people on the road to work.

Mr Duncan Smith claims that for a ‘significant’ number of people on benefits, the struggle to manage their household finances makes it harder for them to buy the essentials and to look for work.

Speaking at the Tory party conference in Birmingham, he said: 'I have long believed that where parents have fallen into a damaging spiral – drug or alcohol addiction, even problem debt, or more – we need to find ways to safeguard them – and more importantly, their families, their children, ensuring their basic needs are met.

'That means benefits paid should go to support the wellbeing of their families, not to feed their destructive habits.

'I can announce that I am testing prepaid cards, onto which we will make benefit payments, so that the money they receive is spent on the needs of the family – finally helping break the cycle of poverty for families on the margins, change we can be proud of.'

The government claims that families will be able to ‘take more control over their finances’ if they are restricted in what they can buy.

They hope to discourage people from buying alcohol, drugs and betting but making the cards compatible only with a limited number of retailers.

Ministers warn that too many people struggling on a budget end up taking on more debt that they can afford.

As a result there is increased demand for local services, with children more likely to be taken into care and families at risk of conviction.

Under the plan announced today, a pre-paid card payment system for ‘vulnerable claimants’ will be monitored in a trial in North Tyneside.

The cards are already in use, but ministers want to see how they could be restricted so they cannot be used in certain places like off-licences or casinos.

A future Conservative Government would use the results of this trial to inform a full scale pilot.

It comes as the government steps up its attack on Britain's welfare bill.

dutchman wrote:Some other groups would also be excluded, such as those ESA claimants in the so-called "Support Group".