LETTERS Whole people
Sir: In Dr Madsen Pirie's excellent article (`Stop the cheats', 9 October) on the need to revolutionise the welfare state, he men- tions the proposals made by the No Turn- ing Back Group of MPs in the pamphlet Who Benefits? Reinventing Social Security.
One of the main proposals we made was the introduction of a 'Whole Person Bene- fit' which would involve the integration of the plethora of benefits currently available into one basic income-assessed benefit, within which different factors would be taken into account. As Dr Pirie points out, this would result in huge savings on bureau- cracy. However, he fears that such a simpli- fied system would be too 'clean and easy', thus resulting in more claimants.
In my opinion, such a reform would have the opposite effect. According to the 1992 Family Expenditure Survey, 71.5 per cent of households currently receive a social security benefit of one sort or another. It is the present system which provides the opportunity for a large majority of the popu- lation to claim social security benefits. It is the present system which is capable of being used and, as Dr Pirie illustrated, abused.
An advantage of the reforms proposed by the NTB Group is that resources can be targeted to those most in need. By having a benefit system which caters for the 'whole person' we can ensure that particular needs are addressed without State money being wasted on those who could get by without it.
The introduction of the Whole Person Benefit, in conjunction with technical inno- vations, such as smart cards to reduce fraud, should result in a more efficient, effec- tive and inexpensive Social Security system. Barry Legg House of Commons, London SW1
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