UKIP Manifesto 2010 Welfare and Social Security

The UK’s current welfare system is ridiculously complicated and requires an army of bureaucrats to administer. There are more than 70 separate benefits, each requiring masses of forms and helping to entrench dependency. UKIP’s proposals will humanise the system and help people to help themselves out of the poverty trap. UKIP will:

· Roll the mass of existing benefits into simpler categories, while ensuring every UK citizen receives a simple, non-means tested ‘Basic Cash Benefit’ (BCB)

· Roll key benefits – such as Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Student Maintenance Grant – into a single, flat-rate BCB set at the same weekly rate as Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support. For students, the BCB will be termed ‘Student Vouchers’ or ‘Training Vouchers’

· Allow part-time and temporary workers to continue claiming BCB until their wages reach UKIP’s proposed £11,500 personal allowance so they can take jobs without being heavily penalised by the system

· Merge Child Benefit, the Child Trust Fund, Child Tax Credits and the Education Maintenance Allowance into an enhanced Child Benefit, payable for each of the first three children in a family

· Merge Early Years’ Funding, Sure Start, the childcare element of Working Tax Credit and the tax relief on Employer Nursery Vouchers into a flat-rate, non-means tested ‘Nursery Voucher’ to cover approximately half the cost of a full-time nursery place

· Ensure British benefits are only available to UK citizens or those who have lived here for at least five years. Currently, British benefits can be claimed by EU citizens in their arrival year

· Require those on benefits – starting with Housing and Council Tax Benefit recipients in private rented homes – to take part in council-run local community projects called ‘Workfare’ schemes. The schemes will be in addition to council jobs

“The British welfare system has become ridiculously complicated”

Download the full Welfare to Workfare policy from the Policies section of www.ukip.org

UKIP Manifesto 2010

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Introduction

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : The Economy: Tax, Budget and Regulation

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : The Economy: Jobs, Enterprise and Skills

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Immigration and Asylum

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Law and Order, Crime

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Defence

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Healthcare and the NHS

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Education and Training

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Pensions

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Welfare and Social Security

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Foreign Affairs and International Trade

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Energy and the Environment

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Transport

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Housing and Planning

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : The Constitution and How We Are Governed

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Culture and Restoring Britishness

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Food, Farming and the Countryside

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Fishing

UKIP Manifesto 2010 : Other Specific UKIP Policies

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