Northern Ireland Conservatives’ spokesperson, Steve McIlwrath, has welcomed the introduction of a ‘one strike’ policy to combat benefit fraud but emphasised that “more needs to be done” to tackle welfare dependency in Northern Ireland and called upon the parties at Stormont to throw their weight behind the government’s efforts to reform welfare.
“In the last financial year there were more than 11,000 reports of suspected benefit fraud,” Steve observed, “obviously any effective measure aimed at cracking down on welfare cheats has to be welcomed. It should be emphasised, though, that this is just one aspect of the dependency culture which has developed in Northern Ireland. Recently it was revealed that only 1 in 25 applicants for Employment Support Allowance are actually unable to work.”
“The government has introduced the Welfare Reform Bill in order to encourage people off benefits and into employment. In Northern Ireland, this legislation will be absolutely vital in order to tackle poverty and reward initiative. There will obviously also be a right of appeal for anyone who feels they have been treated unfairly.”
“We fully support benefits for people who can’t work, who fall on hard times, or who have specific requirements but unfortunately they can also become a lifestyle choice for some. That simply isn’t fair on the hard-working people who foot the bill and it damages the economy by taking prospective workers out of the labour market.”
“Dependency is damaging to our society. It erodes work ethic, causes resentment and increases levels of crime, addiction and vandalism. It’s bad for workers and it’s bad for dependents. We need to encourage people to fulfil their potential, rather than being lulled into a life on benefits. The government’s reform bill will be the most important facet of those efforts. The parties at Stormont need to offer it their full support.”