Ruth Porter

The Church should be employing its moral outrage to greater effect

Part of the role of the Church is to give the poorest in society a voice. It should be front and centre of the public debate about welfare reform, but the most recent intervention by Archbishop Nichols seems directed at the wrong target.

The current disincentive for work in the welfare system is indefensible. It is telling that no voice has been heard in the debate on any side suggesting that it is a good idea to have a situation where people can earn more than the average wage on benefits or that moving to Universal Credit (a simpler system with a reduced disincentive to work) isn’t, at least in theory, a positive step.

Welfare spending in the UK is now up around 40% of government spending (depending on what you include in the measure – this includes health). The debate around whether that needs to be reduced cannot be divorced from that of the general state of the public finances. The national debt stands to hit around the £1.5 trillion mark by the end of the Parliament. We will spend nearly as much this year on servicing the interest on that debt as we do on the education budget. There is substantial academic literature that points to the economically damaging effect of high levels of public spending.

Given the state of the economy is inextricably linked to our ability to help those struggling to get by there are a few points that Archbishop Nichols should consider.

There are some on welfare who are unable to work and, as a society we should ensure they have not just an adequate but a decent standard of living. But critically, to have the resources to help those in need, we need a prosperous economy.

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