How did we get to a welfare system that is unsustainable and unfair? - Daxa Patel

I spent most of my working life in the private sector and the one thing I admired the most was the commercial sense, service is fundamental but for any organisation or business to thrive, it must be commercially viable.

As government ministers tackle the curtailment of welfare benefits to find the money to keep our public services going, we must ask whether successive governments have been too laissez faire about productivity per se in the public sector and to the spiralling welfare bill? Is it akin to the north south divide in terms of the gap? Have some simply got used to not paying their way even if they could while most of us manage within our means and work?

As I write this Sir Keir Starmer has said the current benefits system is ‘unsustainable, indefensible and unfair.’ It is. But we must ask how did we get here?

The welfare system was designed to give a helping hand to those in genuine need but there are those who are taking advantage of this privilege at the cost of those who really need the support, the elderly and the vulnerable.

According to a BBC report, as of January 2025, 9.3 million people aged 16 to 64 in the UK are economically inactive which is a rise of 713,000 since the pandemic. The Department of Work and Pensions states some 2.8 million people are inactive due to long term sickness. Plus, the government spending of £65bn on sickness benefits and the eye watering forecast by tens of billions by the next general election does question what the root causes are for where we are today.

Governments tend to favour short term measures for popularity reasons. It is good that this is being talked about but I would say this needs all party consensus like our support for the war in Ukraine.

Within the Labour party there will be opposition, so it is important to get a buy-in with the notion that like the NHS is broken, words first uttered officially by Wes Streeting, the welfare benefit system is out of control.

Balancing the payment of welfare as a moral duty to support those in genuine need and discouraging those who can pay their own way but are dependent on welfare is at stake. Amidst the political arguments and debates, we must not lose sight of what is fair. Hard choices are necessary to balance the finances but just like prescription drug dependency, we cannot pull the rug from under people’s feet. We need to deal with this problem with compassion.

I do sense the depletion of national pride has a lot to do with many problems such as this.

There is dignity and pride if one is encouraged and permitted to earn one’s way in life but there is apathy or discrimination which prevents people from wanting to work.

The private sector encourages and indeed requires people to be productive whereas in the public sector it can be said there is an easy approach.

Now, this may be controversial but there is a different pace and emphasis between workers in the private and public sector. It follows pride vs right if nailed down to the individual is linked to societal and national pride. If we say we Brits like to earn our way that would be the mindset, but one of the reasons why we attract migrants is because of the ‘easy’ life here.

I heard former PM Rishi Sunak say when interviewed by Nick Robinson on Radio 4 that productivity in the public sector is lower than pre-pandemic levels.

That is surely disconcerting. With AI and less bureaucracy people can be empowered and valued, but we need a sense of national pride that in Britain we like to earn our way and help others in need. That fundamental pride is currently missing.

I say to all those ministers who are trying their hardest to redress the imbalance, focus on the emotions and what it means to be British, and a lot of apathy or productivity issues will start to resolve.

Regarding fairness, I also want to comment on the government’s decision for a different system for convicted ethnic minorities at the pre-sentencing stage.

A convicted person is a criminal white or brown, and they should all be treated equally. I see no justification why ethnic minorities should be given special attention.

If we are to look at why an individual fell into a life of crime as mitigation for the sentence, why not agree to the request made by the Amess family for an inquiry into why the killing of a beloved MP, Sir David Amess, was not prevented.

Daxa Manhar Patel, Resilience Coach, author and solicitor.