Conquering the welfare Leviathan

Among the biggest of challenges facing the new government is the need to make welfare more affordable while continuing to support people in need. There is a strong case for lowering the welfare bill. At around £200 billion the government spends more on welfare than anything else. Spending on pension benefits alone is £77 billion and forecast to grow to £240 billion (in today’s money) by 2050. As George Osborne has noted if the welfare bill is not cut then eliminating the deficit will mean that cuts to other departmental budgets will have to be much deeper.

But some of the most important reasons for welfare reform are non-financial. Although the UK has a very expensive welfare system the outcomes for many children are poor, too many families find that work does not pay, too few people make their own provision for periods of life in which their incomes will be low (such as during retirement) and too much money