Welfare reform: 'taking money from the poorest in society is a sick exercise'
The chief executive of Oxford city council, Peter Sloman, has hit out at the government's planned changes to the welfare system claiming the reforms – including the bedroom tax and benefit caps – have taken £34m out of Oxford's local economy.
Speaking at the Guardian's fifth Local Government Leaders Quarterly event in London last week, Sloman said: "As an officer you are not supposed to be political at all so this isn't a party political point but it seems to me taking £34m from the poorest people in our community is a bit of a sick exercise."
He also claimed that "the amount of vindictiveness towards these people [on benefits] you see in the media from government ministers in terms of painting them as those who don't want to get out of bed in the morning or leaving the curtains closed, is not helpful in terms of dealing with the problems these families face."..
.. Shaw, who leads on welfare issues for Citizens Advice, was concerned about the lack of government analysis. "There has been lots of impact assessment on each individual change but not on the cumulative impact of the reforms taken together. We know it will be the same people hit by each of these cuts many times in a lot of these cases," she said.
(Much more at link).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2013/apr/29/welfare-reform-impact-councils
