3mo ago

The UK’s social security system falls way below international human rights standards: new report

theconversation.com

6 comments

Don't worry we have a human rights lawyer as a prime minister, he'll be getting right on fixing this any day soon
No surprise after 15 years of austerity.
What I'd like to see is the actual figures for the benefits system.
Specifically, for every pound the government allocates to the benefits system, how much actually ends up in the hands of a benefit recipient?
ie. Just how much exactly does Serco, Capita, et al. take from the system?
- Unless the claimant is building up savings then none of it. I would be interested in a breakdown of what it actually costs to keep someone going and how much of what the state spends on them is taken as profits by landlord, shareholders of utility companies, supermarket etc. And how much of that profit disappears off to the US, Saudi, China and tax havens.
  
  Oh, I meant taken by the private entities that actually administer the benefits system. None of it is run by civil servants anymore, it's all contracted out -at great cost- to Capita and Serco mostly.
  Why does it take an age to actually speak to someone about your benefits when you need to? Because Capita intentionally understaff the centralised, offshored call centres to maximise profit.
  Why do the letters about your benefits take an age to be delivered, if they arrive at all? Why do your "prepaid return" forms often never arrive with the benefits office? It's all sent 2nd class post to maximise profit, of course. (Which is even worse than it ever was, as Royal Mail is also a for profit, privately owned enterprise, natch.)
  What is intentionally obfuscated by everyone in power and their media is that every penny that actually ends up in the hands of a benefit claimant, is almost immediately handed over to private enterprise very shortly thereafter.
  The entire benefits system is a subsidy for "the economy" in a very real and direct way. Since it was privatised, a select few companies close to UKGov take the lion's share of it and direct it offshore.
  Why does Labour allow this to continue? What are they gaining from it?
  So, when do we remind these fucks who they are supposed to work for?

6 comments