08.05.12
TUC calls for ‘genuine national insurance’
The TUC has called for a return to social security that offers something for everyone who pays in – not just for the poorest.
In a discussion pamphlet published on Friday, the trades unions body says that successive governments have undermined the social security system so that it no longer enjoys popular support.
It says “few people benefit” from the current system, but that is “costs a great deal” – because successive Chancellors have chosen to raise National Insurance contributions, rather than more progressive income tax rates when they have needed more cash.
A revival of the contributory principle would create a “genuine national insurance system” that provides security for the population, according to the document, called ‘Making a Contribution – Social Security for the Future’.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber (pictured), who is retiring at the end of the year after a decade in the job, said: “The welfare state is a key part of what makes us a civilised society, yet it has lost support under both an onslaught of anti-scrounger rhetoric and the poor experience of those who need to draw on it.
“No-one should pretend that there are easy options for those of us who see the advantages of the more generous and popular systems in much of the rest ofEurope, but reinvigorating the contributory principle provides one powerful idea.”
The report is available at www.tuc.org.uk/tucfiles/292/Contributory_Benefits.pdf
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