LONDON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The man in charge of Britain's pension and benefits programs plans the most thorough overhaul since the welfare state was created after World War II.
Work and Pensions Secretary David Blunkett, in an interview with The Independent, called for a simplification to cut the 29 categories of benefits and 272 different rates. Blunkett said that younger able-bodied pensioners might be encouraged to work, possibly by a system in which those actively seeking work would get a higher benefit.
"The whole benefit system is a patchwork of past ameliorations and contradictions, with sticking plaster all over the place," Blunkett said. "Where one decision led to an anomaly, we then addressed that by bringing in another change or another additional amount."
He said that many of the benefits now in place would never be considered if a welfare system was being created from scratch.
Blunkett plans to release a green paper next month detailing his plans.
