Kemi's Benefits Street crackdown: 30% cut and no booze, fags or betting

Kemi Badenoch has unveiled a tough new Conservative plan to overhaul benefits, with long-term unemployed people who have contributed little to the system facing a 30 per cent cut in their Universal Credit.

Under the proposed reforms, people judged capable of working would initially receive the normal Universal Credit standard allowance for six months. After that, their entitlement would depend on how much they had previously worked.

Those with a substantial work history could retain the full allowance, while people with little employment history could be moved on to a new Subsistence Allowance worth 70 per cent of the full rate.

The Conservatives estimate around 350,000 people could eventually be moved onto the lower rate, generating savings of around £538million by 2029-30.

And there's a catch on how the money can be spent

Those receiving the reduced allowance would not simply get the money as cash. Instead, they would receive a 'Back To Work' prepaid card, which could not be used to withdraw cash, gamble or buy alcohol or cigarettes.

The proposal is part of Badenoch's wider argument that the welfare system should be a safety net rather than a permanent alternative to employment.

Her message is blunt: if someone is capable of working, they should be expected to work.

The contribution test

The proposed system would effectively link the length of time someone could receive the full benefit to their employment record.

Under the Conservatives' formula, every two years worked would provide one year of full-rate entitlement.

So someone aged 58 who had worked continuously for four decades could have accumulated enough entitlement to remain on the full allowance until state pension age if they lost their job.

Someone aged 30 who had worked for only a year would face the lower Subsistence Allowance after the initial six-month period.

People officially assessed as having limited capacity for work and work-related activity would remain entitled to the full rate, while housing and child elements of Universal Credit would continue separately.

Labour and Reform pile in

Labour dismissed the proposal as an unworkable card scheme, arguing that the Conservatives had spent 14 years in government without fixing the welfare system.

Reform went from the other direction, accusing the Conservatives of lacking ambition and pointing to its own much larger proposed welfare savings.

That leaves Badenoch trying to occupy a difficult political space: promising a significantly tougher welfare system while facing criticism from Labour on one side and Reform on the other.

The Conservatives say their wider welfare programme would save £23billion, including changes to PIP, restoration of the two-child benefit cap and restrictions on foreign nationals accessing social housing.

Their new contribution test is therefore about more than simply cutting payments. It represents a proposed shift towards a system where how long someone has worked would directly affect how much welfare support they can receive.

And the prepaid card adds an unmistakable message: the Conservatives want to control not just how much some claimants receive, but what the money can be spent on.

SOURCE

13 minutes ago, Social Media said:

The contribution test

Instead of some convoluted scheme, that will cost more to administer, than it will ever recover.

Apply similar to how the State Pension was changed.

5 Years contributions before a claim can be made.

Benefits cannot exceed the amount you have contributed

Benefits cannot exceed the level of the State Pension.

And while you are fighting to implement that lot.

Start taxing people who's benefits exceed the tax free threshold.

Those receiving the reduced allowance would not simply get the money as cash. Instead, they would receive a 'Back To Work' prepaid card, which could not be used to withdraw cash, gamble or buy alcohol or cigarettes.

Wow...clever.....I can't even begin to imagine how people might get around that.

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

Wow...clever.....I can't even begin to imagine how people might get around that.

Same as the single mothers did with the tokens for baby stuff.

Sell them for cash.

1 hour ago, The Cyclist said:

Same as the single mothers did with the tokens for baby stuff.

Sell them for cash.

....and the $5000 dividend only to be spent on US goods.

ban tattoos for claimants ,they spend 1000s on tatts

Who uses that word to describe cigarettes anymore .....certainly not Kemi.

Smh.

All of that saved money will no doubt go to the lodging, care, and feeding of third-worlder "asylum-seekers" who don't work at all.

They want the UBI 'universal basic income' to be programmable,no booze no fags,no gambling...then no meat no dairy no travel..no dissent eat ze bugs own nothing and be 'happy'.

This is yet another blaring warning sign of what they plan for all of us !

1 hour ago, blaze master said:

Who uses that word to describe cigarettes anymore .....certainly not Kemi.

Smh.

She might not have been referring to cigerettes.

This ole Odekuo woman being from one of the most corrupt countries in the world should know that her kinsmen will happily oblige in corruption at a percentage..

6 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

She might not have been referring to cigerettes.

She didnt use the word at all.