Website of the UK government
Please note that this website has a UK government accesskeys system.
Main menu
Page menu
Government, citizens and rights
Welfare Reform Bill
The purpose of this Bill is to further reform the welfare and benefit systems to improve support and incentives for people to move from benefits into work, and to provide greater choice and control for disabled people. The government remains committed to making progress towards the target on child poverty. The bill will be preceded by a Green Paper and full consultation which will look at options to modernise the benefit system, delivering value for money for the taxpayer while providing support for people at the time they need it most. The changes will also focus on promotion of personal responsibility and independence, making clearer the relationship between the support people can receive and the expectations of them to participate fully in society.
The main elements of the Bill
The main elements of the Bill are:
- measures to better enable people to take advantage of the considerable help on offer to them and where appropriate, to undertake training that is considered essential to finding employment
- a range of measures which strengthen the benefit contract between the individual and society – the individual’s right to support in exchange for clear personal responsibility for improving their own circumstances
- a number of measures to strengthen the requirements of non-resident parents to contribute to their children’s upbringing, as part of a package which champions personal responsibility in the welfare system
- measures to modernise and simplify the benefit system, ensuring that support provides help at the time and in the manner most needed
Additional links
Draft Legislative Programme
The public consultation on proposals for new laws has ended - the Government will now be considering the responses received
