The Archbishop of Wales has hit out at the Government over its rhetoric on benefit fraud.
Dr Barry Morgan said that those who are genuinely unable to work
should be taken care of by the Government, instead of being accused of
workshy.
He said: “The Government talks about benefit frauds as if the country is full of people who are out to milk the system.
“There are people who genuinely cannot work and if the State cannot
take care of them in a proper way, then the whole society is damaged and
diminished.
“There are enough psychological effects of not going to work every
day, of not being able to provide for your children, without being
accused as well of being people who are workshy.”
He spoke of the importance of community, working together and looking
after one another as he warned that worse benefit cuts were still to
come. Job losses, he added, would be inevitable.
The Archbishop’s criticism follows a letter from Christian leaders to
the Government last week, accusing it of “stigmatising” the poor.
They accused the Chancellor of conflating the figures on benefit
fraud during his speech announcing the Comprehensive Review, when he
claimed that £5bn was lost each year to benefit fraud. They said the
real figure was closer to around £1bn.
“Our experience of working in deprived communities is that life on
benefits is often a struggle, with difficult and stressful financial
choices being a daily occurrence,” they said.
“We believe this reality is not well reflected in Government statements and needs to be at the heart of any debate on welfare reform.”
SIC: CT/UK