Gerry Hassan: Time to sweep away partial truths about welfare

We need a new mind-set to help the 2.5m people stigmatised by being on incapacity benefit, writes Gerry Hassan

Most politics is not about lying or spinning. It is about telling partial truths or half-truths which often conceal the wider reality. An example is the view that the 1960s are the source of most of our problems - the start of the decline of authority and the left's undermining of moral values. The alternative view is that the 1980s were where it all went wrong, the age of selfishness and Thatcherism.

Then there is the account of Scotland as a rich, prosperous country with near-limitless potential, or a poor, wee, divided, windswept place that can barely stand on its own two feet. One of the contemporary partial truths is about who is responsible for the current economic mess. To some it is Labour's deficit and debacle; to others, bankers and the global crisis.

The victim in these accounts is any real search for the answer or acknowledgement of complexity, and nowhere is this more evident than in the welfare debate. The middle-class left mindset states that welfare is mostly about structural issues, people excluded from labour markets and society through no fault of their own. The centre-right stresses that many if not most on welfare are there because of individual weakness and demotivation, in extreme cases, living the life of Reilly at the taxpayer's expense.

These two tribal, instinctual responses only explain part of the picture. Leave aside the wider issue of the wisdom of the government's deficit reduction plan and spending cuts, the regressive attack on the poorest households, and the coalition's rather transparent attempt to conceal this. Let's examine the welfare issue. We have a growing, profound problem with welfare, with blighted lives, people trapped and opportunities lost, all at a huge cost to us in public spending and as a society.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is to be applauded for his conversion after his visit to Easterhouse. IDS was shocked by the scale of apathy and disconnection in Glasgow's north-east estate. He vowed to do something about it, and set up the influential Centre for Social Justice which produced the "broken Britain" analysis which has informed much of the coalition's thinking.

The problem with welfare is a complex one involving labour markets, society, changing expectations and families, and a revolution in the roles of men and women. There are 2.5 million people in Britain on incapacity benefit, with huge numbers in places such as Glasgow, South Wales and Liverpool.

Incapacity benefit is a one-way ticket to never working again; it involves stigmatising people in the eyes of employers, and an element of income maximalisation by GPs with clients. Incapacity benefit levels vary greatly across Scotland, from 13.6 per cent of the working age population of Glasgow (down from a high of 18.8 per cent in 2000), to 5.9 per cent in East Renfrewshire.

Within Glasgow, huge differences have been mapped in detail by the Scottish Observatory for Work and Health. A staggering 29.6 per cent of Parkhead and Dalmarnock's working age population is on incapacity (down from a high of 38.9 per cent in 2000), compared with 4.7 per cent in leafy Pollokshields West and 3.8 per cent in Kelvindale and Kelvinside.

Of those aged 55-59 in Glasgow, 30.4 per cent are on incapacity, compared with 16.6 per cent in Scotland. And 52 per cent of Glasgow people on incapacity are there because of mental health problems.

Radical reform is required, but it has to help people as well as saving money, and not be Treasury-led. In some areas, the coalition seem motivated by an attack on those whom it judges "the undeserving poor", reducing already parsimonious benefit levels, and not offering more resources to those who need them, such as the recently unemployed.

Jobseeker's Allowance is a mere 65.45 per week if you are over 25 (51.85 if under 25), and the coalition counts on general public ignorance about the poor level of most benefits, and the power of scare stories of families claiming thousands.

Addressing the issue of the 2.5 million people on incapacity benefit in the UK is an absolute necessity. This has to occur in the context of intensive, extensive one-to-one support which costs a lot and does not look likely in the near future. A mature debate has to begin that moves away from slogans and embraces complexity, acknowledging the role of individual motivation and labour markets, psychology and economics.

Pivotal to this is the issue of the changing roles of men and women, the decline of "male" jobs, the demise of the "breadwinner", and the way women more than men have been able to navigate the world of flexible, often part-time, work. More men than women are on incapacity benefit, reflecting the changing economy and gender roles.

The "walking wounded" in the streets of Glasgow and its surrounding areas are mostly a certain type of west of Scotland men who have lost many of the totems that gave meaning and definition to their lives and place in the community, and urgently need help, support and advice.

That does not mean leaving people stuck on incapacity benefit, but it does mean giving consideration to rolling out pathbreaking projects which have worked individually, street by street, word of mouth, building up trust and stories of success. And that, for all Iain Duncan Smith's genuine commitment, takes money.

We cannot go on the way we have. What kind of egalitarian Scotland, which prides itself on looking after its most vulnerable and poorest, leaves up to a third of parts of its biggest city on the scrapheap? And why do we as a society dare to feel good and smug about ourselves, while turning our back on this forgotten Scotland?

We cannot go back to a non- debate about "Tory cuts" versus "welfare scroungers". We have such a serious challenge with welfare that we have to resist those who for political reasons pose the politics of partial truths. We are playing with people's lives.