28 October 2010
Churches write to Cameron asking him to set the record straight
Dear Mr Cameron
We are writing to express our concern that a number of recent
Government announcements have had the effect of stigmatising the
poor, especially those in receipt of out of work benefits. 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. We believe this reality
is not well reflected in Government statements and needs to be at
the heart of any debate on Welfare Reform
The stigmatising effect these announcements have had on the poorest
and most vulnerable in society has been noted in a number of areas
by the signatories of this letter, who may correspond individually
at a later date. The single outstanding example has been Government
rhetoric around benefit fraud. We in no way condone benefit fraud
and would wish to see this reduced to zero, but we question the
Government's public emphasis placed upon it. For the financial year
2009-2010, the NAO estimates fraud to be 0.6% of the DWP benefits
bill, while errors make up more than double this figure. The
tendency to emphasise fraud when poverty and welfare reform are
discussed often distracts attention from getting resources to those
genuinely in need, which accounts for the other 99.4% of benefit
spending.
The most important example of this misrepresentation occurred when
your Chancellor conflated benefit fraud and error during his speech
announcing the Comprehensive Spending Review on October 20th
2010.
He said:
"Nor will fraud in the welfare system be tolerated any more. We
estimate that £5 billion a year is being lost in this way - £5
billion that others have to work long hours to pay in their taxes.
This week we published our plans to step up the fight to catch
benefit cheats and deploy uncompromising penalties when they are
caught."
As I trust you are aware the £5 billion figure is a three fold
exaggeration of the true Government estimate of benefit fraud. The
publication referred to above confirms that benefit fraud is
estimated at £1billion, and tax credit fraud is estimated at £0.6
billion, making a total of £1.6 billion. The exaggerated figure is
derived by adding the fraud estimates to the error estimates.
We agree with the Government that benefit fraud is a serious
offence, but implying that the poorest perpetrate this offence
three times more than is the case is clearly unjust. We also agree
with you that the CSR will dramatically affect the lives of a
generation, but the fact that issues around welfare reform are
vital to the social and economic future of this country means it is
imperative that the debate is informed by accurate
information.
As speeches in the Commons are matters of public record we would
ask that you instruct the Chancellor to correct his statement of
20th October. We would also ask that the Ministerial forward to the
publication 'Tackling fraud and error in the benefit and tax
credits systems' published last week by the DWP and HMRC, is
similarly corrected, as it makes the same error.
We would ask for a speedy response as the debate on welfare reform
is moving rapidly and deserves to be informed by the best and most
accurate information possible.
Yours sincerely
Revd Martyn Atkins General Secretary The Methodist Church
Simon Loveitt Public Issues Spokesperson The United Reformed
Church
Revd Graham Sparkes Head of Faith and Unity The Baptist Union of
Great Britain
Rev. Ian Galloway Convener, Church and Society Council The Church
of Scotland
Lt Col Marion Drew The Salvation Army
Niall Cooper National Co-ordinator Church Action on Poverty
Alison Gelder Director Housing Justice
c/o The Methodist Church Methodist Church House 25 Marylebone Rd
London NW1 5JR