Welfare state ‘dead in a generation’? Most people think so

Theos, the religion and society think tank, has produced a weighty volume called The Future of Welfare, and it shows the British public taking a cynical view of the future. A quarter of us think the welfare state will have vanished completely within 30 years. 87% feel it is already facing ‘severe problems’. Not surprisingly, people n less wealthy areas are the most pessimistic. 64% of Scots and 71% of people think the principle of welfare will be dead within 30 years.

The interesting thing is that while a small majority blames politicians for the collapse, 20% blame false benefit claims and 16% see ‘benefits tourists from other countries as the scapegoats. 15% blame the European Union, for ‘opening up borders’.

With admirable restraint, Elizabeth Oldfield, Director of Theo, said, ‘This research shows that we need to think carefully not only about specific welfare policies but also about the bigger picture, about what welfare is for.’ Contributors to the book came from a wide range of political perspectives, but as thinking people, they had agreed that ‘We do have a moral responsibility for each other, not just ourselves.’

There was agreement, too, that people need to be able to connect what they put into the system with what they get out. This had been lost over recent decades, and is it, Elizabeth said, ‘the key task facing politicians.’ Whether they are even aware of the task must at present remain in doubt.

Hard copies of The Future of Welfare can be ordered online or downloaded as a free pdf from theosthinktank.co.uk.

Theos is at 77 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2EZ. Tel 0207 828 7777