Archives 2003

Treasury Right - DPB Numbers Highest This Century

By Lindsay Mitchell - March 3, 2004

Figures released for January 2004 show that the number of people on the DPB has climbed to its highest point this century, according to Lindsay Mitchell, petitioner for a Parliamentary review of the DPB.

"Although the climb to 111,087 has not been dramatic, it has been steady and it was predicted by Treasury - a prediction ignored by the government when it removed work-testing."

"In addition, the number of children growing up on a sickness or invalid's benefit has risen by 19% since June 2000. Many of these children were previously supported by the DPB. Every year since 2000, 800 to 900 domestic purpose beneficiaries have transferred onto an invalid's benefit. This and other transfers have masked the real growth in welfare-dependent single parents."

"Single parents need jobs as much as anybody else. Yet they are not included in Labour's new no-go zone policy; a policy which, as it stands, could encourage relationship breakdown by allowing mothers to migrate to rural areas with cheaper rents while preventing unemployed fathers joining them."

"Labour's economic trump card is low unemployment but the reality is they have made no inroads into the number of children growing up in homes where nobody goes to work," Mitchell concluded.