Taking-up Wider Issues

Abstract

Social workers, WROs, day centre staff and indeed anybody who seeks to advise or assist people on low incomes will find that the same problems arise again and again in different cases. It seems to me to be very difficult to work in any close proximity to welfare rights issues without noticing that our income maintenance systems are as much part of the problem as part of the solution. The difficulties of poor people can be traced not only to unemployment, disability or some other adverse life circumstance, but to the operation of social security and welfare benefit systems themselves:

• Not only has Mr Jones been dismissed from his job, following an argument which he feels was provoked by his employer, but the employer says that Mr Jones left voluntarily, and the adjudication officer believes him. Mr Jones has therefore had his unemployment benefit stopped for six weeks.