What could be done to change the way the benefits system work in the Uk?

Question

Particularly for people who are perfectly capable of working but choose not to because the government hands them benefits on a plate... Should it be so easy to live off the system?

Answer 1

Anyone of working age (apart from pregnant women and mothers of young children and people in full-time education) should undergo a physical examination for disability. Those who are judged to be fit to work should, if they do not have any job skills, receive job training at the government's expense. Benefits/unemployment should not be available to people who leave their jobs (except in cases of "constructive dismissal") or are fired for misconduct, poor timekeeping/attendance or being generally useless. That will be incentive for people to work hard and contribute to their own economic success.

Women should be encouraged to work when their children go to school, and the government should make provisions for free or cheap childcare to help them do so.

Nobody should be given council houses because they are pregnant, because currently it is an incentive for young ladies to get pregnant just to get a place of their own! Indeed, government-subsidized housing should be reserved for the most needy (including poor pensioners and the genuinely disabled and key workers including nurses, council workers, cops, etc). If someone who cannot afford to pay market rents or mortgages needs a place to live, the government, through housing associations, can provide assistance to help people get on the housing ladder, but the person must take the responsibility of keeping up their end of the financial arrangements for repayment of the mortgage.

In other words, no able-bodied person should get a free ride; people should receive some help - the most positive way is through tax breaks - but they must earn their keep in society.