Following this closely. We are against compulsory income management and any reduction in DSP. There are good signs for both of these. No Intel yet for mums. The Australian...... INCOME management should be targeted only at people deemed “at risk”, rather than adopted as a blanket approach applying to all welfare recipients, the McClure review will suggest. While Patrick McClure’s review does not directly respond to mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s recommendation of a “healthy welfare card” that bans purchases of items such as alcohol and gambling, it offers a different solution to income management after the current scheme expires next July. It is understood the McClure review panel believes the results from income management are mixed, and that its continuation should be based on a targeted, “cohort-based” approach and not be generalised to all welfare recipients. It also believes more research needs to be done because of conflicting evidence. Income management should also be closely linked to a new “investment” approach that ensures money is spent on welfare recipients “upfront” to deal with their multiple problems, at the same time as placing them on any welfare controls. The review recommends that the New Zealand model, in which more money is spent upfront on certain categories of vulnerable welfare recipients, is rolled out to vulnerable groups as a priority. It is understood that the Abbott government is interested in beginning with young people first. The approach looks at how much it would cost to keep people on income support over a lifetime as opposed to the cheaper cost of an upfront investment to ensure they found proper pathways and real jobs. The Australian can also reveal the McClure review will recommend a staggered approach to rolling out a new welfare-payments system, with people on the Disability Support Pension who can work more than eight hours required to look for work and become engaged in the system. According to sources who have seen a draft of the final report, which is close to being handed to Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, it concedes that a radical overhaul of the welfare system cannot be done overnight, both because computer systems could not handle the widespread change and it would be too costly. The review’s final report will also ease the pain with a “no-disadvantage” grace period for welfare recipients, during which they would not immediately lose money when new streamlined payments are introduced. As already foreshadowed in The Australian, the McClure review panel is of the strong view that welfare recipients should keep the same amount of money they receive from the government but be reclassified and given new job search obligations. The draft report called for a simplification of the welfare payment system, reducing it to four new payments: a tiered working-age payment, a disability support pension (only for profound disabilities), an age pension and a child payment. The current system has grown to 20 different income payments with 55 supplements. If the Abbott government adopts the McClure recommendations, it will do so without immediate budget savings. Under the final recommendations, people currently on the DSP with a work capacity would be put on the new “working age payment” and required to do job-search activities and training, but would not be financially penalised in the short term. Currently, the DSP pays $166 a week more than the general unemployment benefit, Newstart Allowance. The panel is modelling a few options for how to do this, including an interim period where the payment would be the same but the obligations much greater. Mr Andrews has previously backed the thrust of the McClure report, saying it would finally address the issue of the gap between pensions and the lower Newstart payment.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 22:44:07 +0000
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