The cost of providing welfare benefits in Britain has risen by 45 percent in a decade and could rise from £87 billion annually to £192 billion by 2015. These costs are a major element in the national budget.
If the new government is to cut Britain's huge budget deficit, as it has declared that it will, significant changes and cuts will have to be made in the British welfare system.
Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) George Osborne declared in a recent budget speech that increasing numbers of people in the United Kingdom were living on benefits. He wanted to increase incentives to work and would cut benefits such as child tax credits to middle-income families. Housing benefits, which had greatly increased in recent years, would be limited to a maximum of £400 per week for those with large families.