Norfolk: Pressure is needed over welfare benefits

However, sometimes I think we’re guilty of ignoring, or taking for granted, some of the privileges that we’re fortunate enough to enjoy.

The NHS is one of them. It’s far from perfect, in need of much reform and should be better at looking after those who work on the frontline, rather than the fat cats who try to milk all the profits they can from it.

But which of these outcomes would you prefer?

1 – You break your leg or fall ill, need hospital treatment and must either be insured to cover the cost, or risk facing a hefty bill which could take years to pay off.

2 – You break your leg or fall ill, need hospital treatment, but the nearest one is hundreds of miles away, in a bad condition and can’t cope with the demand it faces, let alone find a way to treat you.

3 – You break your leg or fall ill, need hospital treatment and get access to it, for free, no questions asked.

I’m pretty sure we’d all give the same answer.

I feel much the same about our welfare benefits system.

Should I be unfortunate enough to be unable to work because of a chronic illness or disability, I want to know there’s something in place to support me and my family.

If I suddenly lost my job and was unable to find a new one, I want to know there’s a system in place to provide some financial relief.

Again, our welfare system is far from perfect – but at least it exists in the first place. For some of us, just two generations back there was no welfare system.

Families without means would have experienced extreme hardship and deprivation. Ours needs major improvements – but at least it’s there to be improved upon.

There remains a stigma against welfare and suspicion towards those who need to rely on support from the state.

Over the years the flames have been fanned by certain elements of mass, national media and the regular use of derogatory phrases to identify someone who receives state support.

I will not validate them by repeating them here, but you’ll know the words of which I am speaking.

Of course, there have been examples of people out there who have been guilty of cheating the system and claiming money when they don’t really need it.

It is those few people who have given others a bad name. 

Rising benefit fraud does need to be tackled, yet fraud and error is estimated to account for just 3.9% of welfare. 

Therefore, whilst we can estimate that 4 in 100 people may be fraudulently claiming cash, 96 of those 100 are legitimate claimants.

There are 5,000 people in my home village.

If a tiny percentage of them turn out to have a criminal record, does that make the whole village criminals?

Moving into a role where we are working directly with benefit claimants has been an eye opener.

I’ve seen how desperately some people need welfare through no fault of their own. I’ve seen what a difference modest state benefits can make to people’s daily lives.

But I’ve also seen how broken the system of welfare benefit tribunals is.

At Norfolk Community Law Service (NCLS) we help those who have been denied a benefit by the Department of Work and Pensions, to challenge unfair decisions.

They have right to an initial appeal to the DWP, after which, if the refusal remains, it is put before a tribunal.

We are incredibly proud that 77pc of the 155 cases where we represented someone at tribunal in 2022/23, ended up with decisions overturned in favour of our clients. 

We rightly shout about the fact this alone brought £2.2m into the Norfolk economy, cash that would have otherwise sat in DWP coffers. 

And that’s only a fraction of what NCLS does.

Our welfare service is so effective that last week one of our case workers, Vaughan Thomas, was honoured as the Community Welfare winner at the prestigious national Muslim Association Awards.

If our 77pc tribunals appeals success rate it is taken as a cross section of the many thousands of welfare denials happening across the country every year, it would mean thousands are being denied cash to which they are legally entitled.

Just think of the DWP money that could be saved if these expensive appeals weren’t needed in the first place. If that initial decision was made correctly.

That would save so many thousands of people from having to undergo incredibly stressful and time-consuming appeals processes.

Perhaps, therefore, it’s time we reframed the narrative around welfare benefits?

Yes, investigate the potential fraudsters and stamp them out.

But perhaps it’s also time to analyse why those making the DWP’s decisions in the first place are getting so many of them wrong?

David Powles is CEO of Norfolk Community Law Services, based on Prince of Wales Road, in Norwich. To find out more visit ncls.co.uk.