We’ve heard many politicians during the last few weeks calling the welfare state a “broken system,” thereby justifying making drastic cuts. The Chancellor Rachel Reeves went as far as saying, “It is absolutely clear that the current system is not working for anyone.” The Prime Minister calls “the current system morally indefensible.” Swansea West MP, Torsten Bell (Pensions Minister) reckons that “nobody is defending the status quo.” I think they’re exaggerating deliberately. My degree is in Social Policy. A great chunk of it dealt with the welfare system. Welfare reform is popular with politicians who love to play one set of poor people against another. As one Tory MP, the Shadow Secretary of State, Helen Whately, commented in Parliament, “No more hard-working taxpayers funding the family next-door not to work.”

I’ve helped a number of people with benefit claims over the years and with getting proper assistance in schools. Many of the people I’ve supported are autistic. They don’t fall into the disabled categories but can suffer serious problems coping in the world of school and work. Having seen the difference between before and after receipt of benefits, I can only say that benefits are a godsend to them. I’m angry at the sloppy way politicians portray people on benefits.

I saw Liz Kendall (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) visit an amazing place in Northampton called Workbridge. It’s a charity, run by St Andrews Healthcare. At Workbridge people with a variety of mental health problems and disabilities get help with learning how to work. Some end up with jobs with the support of a ‘work-buddy’, a person who goes to a job with them for a short or a long time. It’s certainly not a cheap alternative to life on benefits.

I’d like to see everyone who wishes to work but is struggling receive this kind of help. So I checked what’s available in West Wales and was disappointed. The Welsh Government has something called ‘The In-Work Support Service’ but it seems to be nothing more than an advisory scheme. Others appear only advisory too, Careers Wales, Welsh Local Government Association, National Autistic Society and Autism Cymru to name a few. I can’t find anything similar to Workbridge.

I wrote my dissertation on Universal Basic Income (UBI). The idea is that every citizen receives a basic amount of money and can top it up with work. For those able to work only a few hours a week or intermittently due to their health condition, this scheme is ideal. The resentful neighbours would receive it too. It frees people to work as little or as much as they want or feel able to do. Very disabled citizens and pensioners receive more. I believe this system would get more people into work, studying or on training courses as long as the level of UBI is low enough to act as an incentive. It would be paid for out of taxation, at better graduated bands than is currently the case. With Universal Credit, for every extra pound earned you lose 55p.

UBI trials have been few. One took place in Wales and was set up specifically to help youngsters leaving care. Unfortunately, the trial has been stopped early on the grounds of costs. I agree with the University of Salford, who’ve monitored the scheme, that this has squandered finding out potential benefits and that the momentum “that might make it possible for UBI to be rolled out more widely,” has been lost. With the dire levels of poverty in Wales, the Welsh Government wouldn’t even properly support this group of particularly disadvantaged young people. Shame on them.