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In many cases, meetings reveal lacking
respect and insufficient information on
rights and access to complaint. Files are
often used without consultation or consideration
of users. Too few caseworkers
and too high work pressure were mentioned
as some of the causes for this
situation.
Insufficient efforts targeted at helping
users to find jobs were mentioned as a
problem, and should, according to the
users, be considered in the context of
action plans that are often not adapted
to individual people.
In the debate on the other theme – improving
the conditions of socially marginalised
people – BaZar pinpointed cuts
in social benefits as a key problem, and
together with increasing housing expenses
the cuts cause socially marginalised
people problems in finding and
holding on to homes. A home will often
be a decisive factor for a person to quit
misuse and also have a chance on the
labour market.
In chapter 4, the Council details how it
will follow up the inadequate meeting
of user and system. In September 2005,
the Council will organise a seminar for
users, caseworkers and administration
managers as well as researchers and
Council members to find possible solutions.
At the seminar, users will direct
the actors of the Dacapo theatre in their
acting out meetings between users and
caseworkers. A discussion of caseworkers’
unconscious power exercise will constitute
a special theme.
Chapter 5 deals with the financial conditions
for socially marginalised people.
Despite political statements from the
entire political spectrum stipulating an
intention to improve socially marginalised
people’s conditions, social benefits
to the group are constantly reduced.
The general argument in support of the
cuts is to reinforce socially marginalised
people's financial incentive to find jobs.
The Council reviews existing studies in
this field, and none of them underpin
the claims of a positive interrelation between
cuts and increased labour market
participation. As the Council stresses,
the consideration of ensuring people’s
maintenance – previously the guiding
principle of social policy – has been
completely eradicated from the political
agreements made on these cuts. The
Council has been an ardent critic of the
cuts, and whenever the Council has
debated with the users of the area, the
users have again and again emphasised
the cuts as a key problem.
The Council finds it problematic that
fundamental social policy discussions
and decisions have now been transferred
from the hands of the bodies that used
to constitute the forums to, e.g., the
parliamentary Labour Market Committee
or the Integration Committee.
The Council agrees that no person
should be punished financially when he
or she finds a job and that it is appropriate
to offer financial incentives to find
a job, but benefits must be fixed with a
view to ensuring reasonable maintenance.
However, the Government has
rejected this discussion. The Council
suggests that Denmark starts a political
debate specifically focusing on what
would be a reasonable maintenance level,
and that social benefits be fixed at a level
that is at least above the reasonable level.
At the same time, the Council proposes
that an official poverty line be set. The
Council suggests a scheme to ensure
that the extra income socially marginalised
people earn by finding a job should