UNISON has concerns that the proposed cuts, freezes, reduction and removal of benefit and tax credit entitlements along with the abolition of key measures of child poverty in the Bill will reduce people’s income radically and push more families into poverty.
The union also highlighted that the Bill proposes to abolish key parts of the Child Poverty Act 2010 which will further hit low income households. By abolishing key measurements of income poverty linked to tackling child poverty, it now means that the links between income and poverty are no longer going to be sufficiently recognised.
In support of the Bill, the government claims that work should offer a guaranteed route out of poverty but UNISON argues that the quality is more important than the numbers of jobs and only jobs with decent pay will guarantee low-paid families are lifted out of poverty.
UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The rise in in-work poverty households, now accounts for 63% of child poverty. This is due to low pay and underemployment where people have insufficient hours and insecure work.
“Low paid workers have in the last five years of welfare reform repeatedly told the government that whilst pay is a vital component, people also place a high value on satisfying, secure and suitable work as well as jobs which provide a sufficient income. This Bill is an opportunity to directly address those concerns and it should not be wasted.
“UNISON welcomes the government’s new commitment to report every year on the number of new jobs created but believes that without any real measurement of the quality of those jobs, their impact on the reduction of poverty wages or the decrease in underemployment, they offer no real guarantee for families escaping from ‘in-work’ poverty.
“What we need in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill is a commitment from the government to ensure employers are encouraged to provide decent jobs, decent pay and decent work practices and that this is measured.”
There is still time to amend the Bill. Read UNISON’s parliamentary briefing and the UNISON’s briefing to members find out what you can do next to support UNISON’s welfare reform recommendations.