Labour defines welfare terms

LABOUR'S Commission on Social Justice today prepares the ground for the prospect of a change in fundamental attitudes towards the welfare state, writes Patricia Wynn Davies.

Giving notice that the terms 'universal' and 'targeted' will be abandoned and benefits classified as contributory (based on National Insurance Contributions); means-tested (based on income and assets); categorical (paid to people in defined circumstances); occupational (based on employment); and discretionary.

'Targeting' has wrongly come to be confined to 'means-testing', it says in its third paper. 'This is not simply a matter of terminology: the choice before us is not a crude one between means-tested and non-means-tested benefits, but a complex one between a wide variety of different kinds of provision. Once we understand that every system is a mix of different kinds of benefit, it is easier to see that the mixture in the UK could be altered as part of a move towards modernising and reforming our welfare state.'