Welfare cuts only stigmatise the poorest

Robert Armour wrote:Ever since I took up post as a welfare rights adviser I felt like a small boat against a very strong current. While I’m trying desperately to support people – many of whom are at their lowest ebb - we have a UK government actively implementing cuts to make life worse for these very people.

I’ve seen more grown adults cry as a welfare rights adviser than I did in my entire career as a social worker. It doesn’t relent: they just keep coming; I’m dealing with more cases of poverty as more welfare cuts get rolled out.

Many who have seen their benefits slashed, capped or halted come to us as a last resort. What many don’t see is the once proud people relegated to quivering wrecks. They believe no-one cares, that they’ve not only been abandoned but proactively stigmatised because, for whatever reason, they require state support. That’s fundamentally wrong and it’s not the society I want to live in.

No society rewards the disabled, the unemployed, the infirm.

Rowling has lived a "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on state benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years.

guilt shades her eyes when she talks about that time, about the indulgence of writing while living on assistance