We are once again talking about "welfare" instead of social security. "Welfare" individualises state support, when what the UK built in the post-war years was a social security system which served our common endeavour. "Welfare" is the language of tabloids; it should not be the language of Labour. - ThreadSky

dhothersall.bsky.social • 12 days ago

We are once again talking about "welfare" instead of social security. "Welfare" individualises state support, when what the UK built in the post-war years was a social security system which served our common endeavour. "Welfare" is the language of tabloids; it should not be the language of Labour.

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chrisbirder.bsky.social•12 days ago

Exactly.

humzas-brain.bsky.social•12 days ago

Don’t disagree but Welfare is the term used by the civil service.

dhothersall.bsky.social•12 days ago

Well, you know, they should stop.

humzas-brain.bsky.social•12 days ago

Agreed, but changing civil service dogma is like telling the sun to stop rising and believing it will happen

dhothersall.bsky.social•12 days ago

I'm also struck by how much of this conversation is carefully corralled into the "working age" space. This BBC explainer, for example, plots a stark graph of the projected increase in the "welfare" bill from £64.7bn in 2024 to £100.7bn in 2030, and attributes that to a rise in incapacity benefits.

dhothersall.bsky.social•12 days ago

Yet spending on pension-age "welfare" was already at £142bn in 2024 and is projected to rise to £183bn in 2030. Pensioners are always painted as deserving, and working-age benefits recipients are always painted as feckless. I fear it's another example of the generational unfairness gripping the UK.

dhothersall.bsky.social•12 days ago

So when the BBC asks "How big is the welfare budget?" and gives the answer that it's £64.7bn now and will be £100.7bn by 2030, what it should actually be asking is "How much do we spend on our shared social security?" and the *real* answer is £296.3bn today and projected to rise to £377.7bn by 2030.

dhothersall.bsky.social•12 days ago

Now "Is this too much?" is a perfectly valid question to ask and no Chancellor would be doing their job if they weren't seeking to ensure public money is spent only where necessary. But you simply can't make that assessment without seeing the whole picture, so why are we being fed less than that?

riverbirchky.bsky.social•12 days ago

"Welfare" is the language of Reagan who coined the term "welfare queens". He portrayed people receiving assistance as shiftless and getting rich off the "system."

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