Universal Credit inventor Sir Iain Duncan Smith says ‘perverse incentives’ have returned to Britain’s benefits system due to an ‘ever-growing list freebies’ costing taxpayers a ‘fortune’
Folk on benefits can claim discounts on booze, massages, eyebrow treatments – and beach huts!
Universal Credit and mental health claimants can receive a host of concessions via local government schemes. While the unemployed get discounts at football matches, comedy clubs, cinemas, saunas and spas. Some concessions offered by councils or independent businesses even apply to white water rafting, rowing clubs, yoga classes and ice skating.
Local authorities are also offering folk on benefits discounts on weddings and at leisure centres. The concessions go beyond help offered to low-income families such as discounted travel to help folk find work or social tariffs on energy.
The revelation could increase pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to tackle rising welfare costs following a string of about-turns on benefit reform in the face of pressure from back-bench MPs.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has backed a cut in the welfare budget to fund a rise in defence spending, saying ministers have to put more money into the military which has had to ‘come from somewhere’.
Universal Credit creator Sir Iain Duncan Smith said ‘perverse incentives’ were ‘creeping back’ into the welfare system.
He said an ‘ever-growing list of freebies, relaxed work-search rules and online assessments are all wreaking havoc on the system while costing taxpayers a fortune’.
A discount card offered to Universal Credit and other benefit claimants for £5 by Leeds city council offers up to 20% off food and drinks at bars and restaurants including Frankie and Benny’s and the Tiki Hideaway.
Cardholders can also benefit from £20 discounts on yoga classes, 15% on sports massages and breaks on beauty treatments including ‘microblading’ – eyebrow tattoos – and contour treatments in a selection of the city’s salons.
Colchester council offers £155-a-year discounts to claimants leasing £630 beach huts.
Wandsworth council offers claimants discounts of 50% to 100% on gym sessions to swimming lessons as well as wedding ceremonies and events.
The National White Water Centre, Oxford’s Falcon Boat Club and the Canary Wharf ice rink also offer discounts.
In south-east London job-seeking football fans benefit from concession tickets as low as £5.50 at Dulwich Hamlet, compared with standard prices of £13.
Brighton’s Komedia comedy club offers discounts for those on Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance.
While Odeon cinema is signed up to a scheme that allows PIP claimants to bring a carer with them free of charge.
Benefit recipients can enjoy discounts on saunas in Wandsworth, south London.
The new deals come after it was revealed benefit families can claim discounts at the Tower of London, London Zoo and the Eden Project.
Working families pay more than £100 for some of the same trips.
Ticket prices at many attractions, including St Paul’s Cathedral and the Roald Dahl Museum, are priced as low as £1 for Universal Credit claimants.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said the Government had created a ‘freebie culture that treats benefits as a rewards scheme’ in a Britain ‘where you are better off not working’.
Reform welfare spokesman Lee Anderson said: “What’s the point in getting out of bed in the morning? Freebie Britain has spiralled out of control and a welfare culture has taken hold.”
A Government spokesman said: “We’re clear that households in work should be consistently better off than households on benefits alone.”