On 3rd July 2015, a group of leading Catholics wrote to Iain Duncan Smith regarding his welfare reforms.We are delighted that the Minister took the time to reply to the issues raised and have published his response here.However, we believe the Minister has missed the point on the harm he is causing. We have therefore sent him the following letter in reply.
On 3rd July 2015, a group of leading Catholics published an open letter to Iain Duncan Smith calling on him to change his approach to welfare reform. We are delighted the Minister has taken the time to respond to the letter, and publish it in full below.
We are constantly being told that the British public has swallowed the 'scroungers and skivers' rhetoric about benefit claimants, and is broadly in favour of welfare cuts.
This time last year we took the Department of Work and Pensions to a judicial review to decide if they properly consulted about cutting help for people who can only walk a few metres.
There are many things to despair of in George Osborne’s Summer Budget but the one that makes my heart sink most is proposed changes to the Employment Support Allowance (ESA).