Iain Duncan Smith Back In The Dwp

[jim360]

Great. Just great. Just what the country needs. Words cannot express my joy at this news.

P.S. that was sarcasm.

[douglas9401]

I'm still waiting to see the photos he has squirrelled away.
It's just not a talent based position he occupies.

[sandyRoe]

Hasn't the workhouse master been tasked to find 12 billion to cut from the welfare budget?
"I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall Ill. Iwarn you not to get old..."

[lady-janine]

that sounds just about right sandy.

[naomi24]

How awful it would be if the capable among the 'ordinary' who are currently milking the system were expected to take responsibility for themselves.

[Khandro]

IDS - cruel but fair ?

[jim360]

Something closer to "cruel but an arrogant git who doesn't ever listen and is just bloody-minded".

[dannyk13]

A lot of speculation,why not wait to see what happens before complaining?

[jim360]

Because he's been there five years already so I know what he's like.

His pet policy of universal credit is likely to be a complete shambles (already has been) but it could yet turn out to be a success after all. This is about what he is like as a person and a minister.

[Svejk]

How did you find out? I've been listening to the BBC and all I've heard about is the future of the Labour Party. (after a suitable period of mourning, natch)

[Tilly2]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/election-2015-32686527

[Hopkirk]

Well I for one am glad to see him back in there.

We couldn't carry on the way we were, the welfare state was out of control.

[Khandro]

jim; //His pet policy of universal credit is likely to be a complete shambles//

Well we shall have to wait and see, but isn't it the benefit system itself which is a "complete shambles" ? Something drastic has to be done, what would you suggest?

[cazzz1975]

Its a shame that the genuine vulnerable suffer for the tiny minority of fraudsters.

[cazzz1975]

how about improving wages so the benefits system doesn't have to make up the wages of the low paid?

[jim360]

That sounds like the classic "politician's syllogism": we must do something, this is something, therefore we must do this.

I don't know what should be done instead. The problem is that Universal Credit's basic philosophy is flawed. A good deal of the reason the system has expanded to include so many benefits in the first place is that different benefits reflect different reasons for needing them -- or for being on them. Thus there is a reason housing benefit and Job Seeker's Allowance are separate. Bringing them together again is thus trying to impose simplicity where it does not exist.

Never made the administrative headache of trying to fuse seven separate benefits, only some of which were administered by the DWP. Tax Credits fell under HMRC, and Housing Benefits were administered by local councils -- meaning the reintegration task is larger than even trying to fuse seven separate systems! No wonder it has taken longer than IDS envisaged.

Which in a sense is the problem. It is a bad idea in principle; it's worse in practice. And yet IDS has been unable to see this and continues to pretend that everything is working smoothly despite falling years behind schedule already.

[chaptazbru2]

Like I said on Thursday when this vile lot got back in - a bad, bad day !!