Iain ‘Blank Cheque’ Smith strikes again: He blew £200K on benefit service sell-off scheme

Last Updated: February 4, 2016By

Fit for work? Iain Duncan Smith has blown £200,000 on consultants.

Private consultants must love Iain Duncan Smith; whenever he wants their advice they know they can make a downpayment on a new house.

(Or car. Or yacht. Whatever.)

He has blown £15.8 billion on Universal Credit.

The Bedroom Tax hasn’t saved the Conservative Government any money but he is prepared to defend it to the bottom of his chequebook (using your money).

Now we learn that he has secretly employed consultants to privatise a government scheme that used to work well but has been subjected to Conservative cuts that mean it would be better to kill it altogether.

Access to Work pays for practical support to get jobs for disabled people – or keep them in the work they already have.

The problem is that, as Frances Ryan reported in The Guardian in January last year, “it seems that the government started quietly cutting the amount of support available, resulting in payment delays and fewer hours of help. But as the changes were never publicly announced, even the people using the scheme are in the dark.”

The Independent reported that the Conservative Government released a report on a plan to cut the amount of money available via Access to Work, hours after its general election win last year: “A policy document originally announced in March by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suggests a cap on how much the £108m fund can pay to people who use it. An impact assessment of the policy was released on the day the general election results.”

So we’ve established that the scheme was over-subscribed and did not have enough cash to support the number of people who were eligible for its help. The Tories needed to find a way to make it cheaper. That leaves one simple question:

Why on Earth did Iain Duncan Smith think privatisation was the answer?

You see, privatising a service means it is handed over to people whose only concern is the amount of profit they can make from it.

Access to Work was spending more than expected as a public service.

There is only one place the privateers could make savings, in order to create a profit: The amount provided to the disabled.

If they cut that, it defeats the point of the exercise – disabled people will not be able to sustain their continued employment.

The whole idea of privatising Access to Work is, therefore, utter foolishness.

Expect an official announcement soon.

Iain Duncan Smith has paid consultants £200,000 to draw up secret plans for the possible privatisation of a key welfare service.

The Work and Pensions Secretary hired the advisers to look at putting the Access to Work scheme up for tender.

The Access to Work programme employs more than 600 people and is responsible for helping the disabled and long-term sick find a job.

A memo seen by the Daily Mirror admits that any privatisation could be seen to weaken the service and advises ministers not to make a public announcement about the plans.

Source: Iain Duncan Smith blows £200k on ‘secret’ sell-off plan – Mirror Online

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No Comments

  1. Mr.Angry February 4, 2016 at 8:18 am - Reply

    It goes from bad to worse, how in the name of God does this evil imbecile remain in charge of the DWP.

    Surely PR man DC must see the waste and damage to society IDS is causing, is DC being blackmailed by IDS or is he just plain scared of him ?

    Lets face it IDS is pure evil and I would not put anything past him, no wonder he needs 24/7 protection.

  2. NMac February 4, 2016 at 9:01 am - Reply

    So nasty and vindictive that they daren’t even tell the public what they are doing.

  3. A-Brightfuture February 4, 2016 at 10:22 am - Reply

    “Why on Earth did Iain Duncan Smith think privatisation was the answer?”

    Because they are all in it together.

    The whole stinking cesspit is of corruption and greed, on a massive scale. Trillions of pounds of stocks and shares on the open market.
    Lord Freud was not wrong when he “mistakenly” opened his gob about “Welfare regarded as STOCK”.
    He was referring to the massive transfer on the STOCK EXCHANGE, and STOCKS and SHARES. People being bought and sold like slaves.
    He was a banker, and probably still is.
    Folk on Welfare do not drain the country of money, they are the biggest money makers for the elite,
    Folks you are being sold a lie.

    • Mike Sivier February 4, 2016 at 1:24 pm - Reply

      For clarity: Freud said the people on ‘welfare’ were stock, not welfare itself.

  4. Michael Broadhurst February 4, 2016 at 11:57 am - Reply

    how much more of OUR money is this excuse for a man going to be allowed to waste ?

  5. Florence February 4, 2016 at 12:33 pm - Reply

    If AtW is privatised, then we will no longer have any access to the financials, so we will be unable to see how much is diverted to the company, and how much (less) goes to the disabled. The PR can be written in advance – “directing support to those who most need it……. value for money………we spend £X (fantasy figure) on supporting those in need…….success……..blahblah”. As on who actually did have AtW support when still able to work, it is still incredible how few people knew about it who could benefit, and it was even more disgusting when most employers were also clueless about this or any other scheme to support disabled and sick people in work.

    Of course it’s par for the course that IDS will “demand” more effort from the sick & disabled, while kicking away support. Now we see DWP Job Advisors placed in GP surgeries, which of course is the only place ESA support group go regularly. Now, there is no such thing as a confidential relationship with a GP, or safe space from DWP punishment.

  6. David February 4, 2016 at 1:13 pm - Reply

    Well, it’s our money. He’s a tory, so why shouldn’t he do what he likes with our money?
    I’ve said for years that the rich can’t ever be rich enough, so they avoid tax and let us pay it for them. The rich can’t ever be rich enough, so they want our money too.

  7. mohandeer February 6, 2016 at 6:54 pm - Reply

    I wonder how many lives the money IDS has wasted could have saved?

    Is there anything this prat can actually get right?

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