`British government to privatise social security' says visiting unionist

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE -- "The privatisation process undertaken by the Conservative government in Britain in the Department of Social Security has been disastrous", Vicki Cawthorne, a representative of the Civil and Public Services Association, from the Yorkshire area, told a meeting of CPSU delegates here on November 8.

Cawthorne explained that a process remarkably similar to the changes now being proposed by the Australian Coalition government had taken place in Britain during the 1990s. In 1990, the British Department of Social Security was split into "executive agencies", separate from the public service itself, rather like statutory corporations, under a chief executive officer and board of management.

The Australian government is planning to establish a one-stop "agency" next year to handle social security and other benefit payments, such as Austudy, under a scheme similar to the UK model.

In 1992-93, the Tory government in Britain initiated a "market testing/contracting out" program, by which provision of social security benefits was put out to competition between the public and private sectors. The government "accommodation and services" division was fully privatised, with a resulting "collapse in services", according to Cawthorne. The CPSA, the main public service union, mounted a major industrial campaign against market testing, she said, but could not prevent its implementation.

This year, the Tories have launched a program aimed at radically cutting back social welfare benefits and completely privatising the social security system. "Private sector partnerships" with DSS management are being established to allow corporations to prepare to tender for contracts to take over administration of social welfare benefits. The child benefit section, administered by a huge "benefit processing factory" employing 8000 staff in the city of Newcastle, will be privatised, if the Tories have their way.

Because of a rise in violence against DSS staff related to the tightening of benefit payment restrictions, the CPSA has launched a big industrial campaign over the issue of staff security in recent months, including at least six days on strike.

CPSU delegates who attended the meeting vowed to relay Cawthorne's report to DSS staff in Australia as a clear warning of the danger in the Howard government's social welfare organisation and administration policies.

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