0:00:03 > 0:00:07The benefit system has created a benefit culture.
0:00:07 > 0:00:14It doesn't just allow people to act irresponsibly, but often actively encourages them to do so.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16It's a really boring life.
0:00:16 > 0:00:21Just sitting about, spending the money you get, then you have to wait like a week without money.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26The welfare that works is welfare that helps people to help themselves.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29It's your quality of life. Things that you've worked hard to deserve.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32They were all about to be taken away from you.
0:00:32 > 0:00:38What our people seem to have lost is belief in the balance between production and welfare.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41And that's the balance this government's got to find.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45People who worked on the Broo and people who worked in job centres at the time
0:00:45 > 0:00:48treated unemployment as if, "You can do better."
0:00:48 > 0:00:51I remember in a class of 60,
0:00:51 > 0:00:56the teacher saying, "Hands up all those their fathers are unemployed." Every hand in the class went up.
0:01:01 > 0:01:07Love it or loathe it, life on the Broo has been part of our culture for 100 years.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13Just about everyone in Scotland has either lived it or knows someone who has.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18But how did we get here and what happened before life on the Broo?
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Life at the beginning of the 20th century was brutish and short.
0:01:29 > 0:01:36A boy born in 1900 could expect to live until he was just 45 - a girl till she was 49.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41The average worker earned £1.40 for a 60-hour week.
0:01:41 > 0:01:47But if life was tough for those with a job, for those without, it was dreadful.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51You would have had to become a pauper.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53You would have to have lost your civil rights,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55to have gone into the workhouse.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00And if you or any of your family had to go to the workhouse, for example, because of sickness,
0:02:00 > 0:02:06because of mental illness, because of disability, then the family would be pauperised.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09It would mean that they would lose everything and lose all rights.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Workhouses had been around since the 17th century.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17They prevented total destitution, but only just.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21In one room, a group of people would sew mailbags,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24they would be taken out into another room where people
0:02:24 > 0:02:27would unpick them and the whole process would start over again.
0:02:27 > 0:02:34So it was exceptionally demeaning, it was exceptionally cruel, people dreaded going into the poorhouse.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37By the beginning of the 20th century, there was a growing
0:02:37 > 0:02:41acceptance that unemployment was rarely the fault of the unemployed.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Illness and closures were far more common causes.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49At the same time, the working class vote was becoming increasingly important.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55So, in 1911, the Liberal Chancellor Lloyd George introduced the National Insurance Act.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Life on the Broo was born.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03Lloyd George's idea was to address a problem of poverty.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06He wanted to deal with mass poverty that was too proud
0:03:06 > 0:03:08to wear the badge of pauperism.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12So he introduced insurance which would be a scheme that workers would pay into,
0:03:12 > 0:03:18that the State would pay into and that also employers would pay into.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Initially it was only available to certain jobs.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Those that by their nature were sporadic, like shipbuilding.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Even so, the Liberals had introduced a safety net for the working classes
0:03:28 > 0:03:32and stolen the lead on their Labour Party rivals.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36It came into being, but Keir Hardie
0:03:36 > 0:03:40and the Labour movement were immediately critical of it
0:03:40 > 0:03:43for these reasons. One is that, in fact,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47despite all the publicity, it only covered a minority of workers.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51It only covered about two million workers.
0:03:51 > 0:03:57The other criticism was that if they got unemployment pay, it was only for about 15 weeks.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00So, if you're unemployed after that, you're back in the Poor Law
0:04:00 > 0:04:07and their other criticism was that it was a very low pay level, seven shillings a week.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10So it didn't take people out of poverty.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13The Liberals were so pleased with Lloyd George's reforms,
0:04:13 > 0:04:19they commissioned a film showing people freed from the tyranny of the workhouse.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25In reality, it remained as the place of last resort until the 1940s.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30But any concerns about life on the Broo would soon be overshadowed.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39There had never been a war like it. Killing on an industrial scale.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Millions dead.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44No family was left untouched.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46On the home front, women entered the workplace en masse,
0:04:46 > 0:04:51frequently undertaking jobs previously reserved for men.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55For those lucky enough to return from the war, there was little else to cheer.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58The economy was struggling.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04With Russia having fallen to the Bolsheviks, governments feared idle and hungry workers.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Benefits were extended to cover most jobs.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Life on the Broo was a useful tool.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13It was a feeling of utter despair.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15That's the only way I can describe it.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18They had the local corner crowds,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21where 20 and 30 strong men, unemployed,
0:05:21 > 0:05:28a great many of them ex-servicemen from the First World War, which was only a few years back.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31I think if there hadn't been
0:05:31 > 0:05:33unemployment benefit,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37or Poor Law benefit, or some kind of provision made,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40there'd have been a massive reaction.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45- I mean, I can remember hunger marches being organised.- Of course.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48- Unemployed...- Went to London. - ..were marching to London.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54And some of them were carrying banners, carrying placards saying, "We Want Bread".
0:05:54 > 0:05:59- "We Want Work."- In fact, I remember seeing a placard, and I cringe when I remember it,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02"We Want Unemployed Benefit Increased."
0:06:02 > 0:06:05You know, you look back and you say, "Christ, these people
0:06:05 > 0:06:08"are just looking for a livelihood, you know."
0:06:08 > 0:06:14The first march for jobs set off to London from Glasgow in 1922
0:06:14 > 0:06:19and protesters carried on marching from all over Britain for a decade.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22For many though, life on the Broo was the only option.
0:06:22 > 0:06:29By 1932, a staggering one in every five of the working population was claiming unemployment benefit.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32A record that has remained unbroken to this day.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Before the First World War, unemployment tended to be quite
0:06:38 > 0:06:45short term, it tended to, you know, if you were working on a ship, once the ship was finished,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48you would have to wait until the next order for a ship came in.
0:06:48 > 0:06:54But, in the 1920s and '30s, what you get is long-term mass unemployment.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59There is absolutely no prospect whatsoever of finding a job.
0:06:59 > 0:07:05In 1934, the Unemployment Assistance Act acknowledged the changing times.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Last summer, parliament passed the Unemployment Act.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Part 2, which is to come into operation in two stages,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18in January and March next, makes the state, and not the local authorities,
0:07:18 > 0:07:24responsible for the care of nearly all the able-bodied unemployed who are in need.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27This, in itself, is a great change for the better.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Now, the long-term unemployed, and those who'd never even had a job,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33would be entitled to a life on the Broo.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36But it came at a price.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39My father worked at the docks and there was no
0:07:39 > 0:07:43ships coming in but there was a lot of unemployment everywhere.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49So my mother had to go to a place in Stanley Street
0:07:49 > 0:07:55to make an application for money for the rent and coal money.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01And, at the time, being at that age, I didn't realise what my mother was going through.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06You sat for hours and hours and they asked all sorts of questions.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11If there was anything in the house that could be pawned for to bring in some money.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14How humiliating it must have been
0:08:14 > 0:08:19for to go - that was you begging more or less - through no fault of your own.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21The means test applies to a household.
0:08:21 > 0:08:27So, if anybody is bringing in income to the household, that's part of the household's means.
0:08:27 > 0:08:33If the household is seen as having too much by way of capital, they get excluded.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35The household means test is really hated.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38This is what Orwell is describing in The Road To Wigan Pier.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43These watchdogs were out prowling about and, for some reason or another,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45there was always a grapevine in the area.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50"The means test people are prowling about to verify that
0:08:50 > 0:08:54"you're not staying with the family, your own family."
0:08:54 > 0:08:56So your benefit would be reduced.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59I'd be in the house and somebody would come and say,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03"The means test men are in the street."
0:09:03 > 0:09:08And I'd simply dive out right away, over a back court, through a close,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12up, chap Mrs Gormley's door, and Mrs Gormley'd say, "Come in, son.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15"Right, is that the means test man?" "Yeah." "Just sit down there."
0:09:15 > 0:09:19And within minutes, these guys had a nose, you know.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Within minutes they'd come in. I'd be sitting at Mrs Gormley's table, you know, looking at a comic
0:09:23 > 0:09:29or a book or something, you know, and Mrs Gormley would say, "Ah, he's all right, he's behaving himself,"
0:09:29 > 0:09:31and stuff like that, you know, bigging it up.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34The whole thing was ludicrous.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37But it was so very important at the time.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Increasingly, it was becoming clear that industry alone could never create the jobs needed
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and governments would have to offer their workers more than just a life on the Broo.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49Governments came to look at their responsibilities in a different way.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53The idea that governments could actually control what was happening in the economy, that they didn't
0:09:53 > 0:09:57simply have to accept the outcomes of whatever happened in the market.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02And also Keynes made the critically important argument
0:10:02 > 0:10:08that it was much, much better to pay people for doing something than paying them for doing nothing.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Work had stopped on the Queen Mary in 1931.
0:10:11 > 0:10:17The liner stood rusting on the Clyde for over two years - a symbol of Britain's economic woes.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Now the Government put up money to finish the job.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26'Cheered all the way by a quarter of a million people.
0:10:26 > 0:10:27'Chains take up the strain.'
0:10:32 > 0:10:38In rural Scotland, the Hydro Scheme promised communities both jobs and electricity.
0:10:38 > 0:10:44And, in 1937, work began on Scotland's first industrial estate.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Scotland has been going through a severe industrial depression.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49But now, at last, the tide seems to have turned.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54At the Hillington industrial estate on Clydeside, new factories are springing up - factories that will
0:10:54 > 0:10:58bring employment and happiness to many a dark, depressed home.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03In 1938, as the decade drew to a close, Scotland hosted
0:11:03 > 0:11:06the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09A spectacular celebration of industrial endeavour.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14It was a tremendous success, attracting more than 12 million visitors.
0:11:14 > 0:11:21Then, just nine months after it was all over, life on the Broo became the very least of people's concerns.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28During the Second World War,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32the areas in the UK that are hit hardest in the Great Depression,
0:11:32 > 0:11:38economically are the most vital for the success of Britain during the war.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It's the heavy, traditional, industrial areas that need to
0:11:41 > 0:11:46produce the munitions - the steel, the ships, the coal...
0:11:46 > 0:11:52They're absolutely vital and, you know, politicians recognise that they can't simply
0:11:52 > 0:11:59go to these people and say, "Work hard for the duration of the war but you might end up unemployed."
0:12:02 > 0:12:07'As the result of much intensive study into social security, Sir William Beveridge
0:12:07 > 0:12:12'is the recognised authority on present-day and post-war problems.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17'Following upon the publication of his report, Sir William summarises the points of his plan."
0:12:17 > 0:12:20The report proposes, first,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24an all-in scheme of social insurance,
0:12:24 > 0:12:31providing for all citizens and their families all the cash benefits
0:12:31 > 0:12:33needed for security.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37The report that he produced was one that Churchill
0:12:37 > 0:12:40didn't want and wasn't interested in and proposed not to publish.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Beveridge leaked it and it became a bestseller.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47It became a major propaganda tool.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51It was parachuted - literally - into occupied territory abroad
0:12:51 > 0:12:55and it had a huge effect, not only in Britain, but on other countries in other places.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00For the Broo, life really did begin at 40. Well, nearly.
0:13:00 > 0:13:0437 years after it was introduced, a war-weary nation could now look
0:13:04 > 0:13:09forward to social security from cradle to grave.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11I want to ask you all to help
0:13:11 > 0:13:16in making this country of ours more prosperous.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21So, please, everyone try - by 5th July - to have read the booklet right through.
0:13:21 > 0:13:22Put it safely away.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24You may need it one day.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Then you can read what to do. Right?
0:13:26 > 0:13:29You lucky people!
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Beveridge's scheme was not without flaws.
0:13:33 > 0:13:39It soon became apparent there needed to be something for people who were unable to contribute.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41So National Assistance was introduced.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44And, in the post-war years, as the economy began to boom,
0:13:44 > 0:13:49other anomalies of a contribution-based system emerged.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53It was clear that we actually had very little support for people with disabilities.
0:13:53 > 0:14:01So, in 1971, as part of the concerns, we have the introduction of invalidity benefit,
0:14:01 > 0:14:06which is an extension of the existing National Insurance Sickness Benefit
0:14:06 > 0:14:14for long-term claimants, and invalidity benefit is the direct
0:14:14 > 0:14:19ancestor or parent of incapacity benefit in the 1990s.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25The benefits system was proliferating at a time when the old industries were faltering.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31They were increasingly dependent on subsidy and crippled by industrial unrest.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37The 1970s became a decade synonymous with strikes, three-day weeks and blackouts.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42That was all set to change when the Conservatives swept to power in 1979.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48What you have in the 1980s is, along comes Mrs Thatcher and says,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51"Right, state intervention is effectively over,"
0:14:51 > 0:14:58and pulls out the plug on these failing industries, which creates
0:14:58 > 0:15:01mass unemployment yet again.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05In fact, because of population growth, in sheer numbers,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09levels were higher than they'd been in the 1930s.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13By 1986, three million people were unemployed,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17just over 10% of the working age population.
0:15:17 > 0:15:23There was all these big industrial places closing down and my fear factor was worse
0:15:23 > 0:15:26because, at that time, I had a child and I'm thinking,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28"How do I support this child? How do I support my wife?
0:15:28 > 0:15:32"How do I look after a house?" And it was a real massive fear factor.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36There was no future, you were just desperate to get a job.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Margaret Thatcher's refusal to continue subsidising
0:15:39 > 0:15:44old, unprofitable industries meant many went to the wall.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50For those bemoaning the lack of work and opportunity, there was little sympathy.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work
0:15:59 > 0:16:02and he kept looking till he found it.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07Whole communities that had depended on mines, car plants and steel works
0:16:07 > 0:16:11suddenly found themselves devastated by closures.
0:16:17 > 0:16:23The whole community was affected because shops started to close, public houses were closing
0:16:23 > 0:16:28and shops were closing because there was nobody there for money to spend in the community.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30The whole community was suffering.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33People were starting to find jobs on the oilrigs, they were going on
0:16:33 > 0:16:39jobs abroad, they were taking jobs anywhere and they had to leave their families behind and work away.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43There's people on oilrigs working three or four weeks at a time away from home because they can't get
0:16:43 > 0:16:47the job and the money they wanted within their own local community.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52They had to go further afield and again that split families up because of the time they were away from home.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Job Centres struggled to cope.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59New ideas such as job clubs and youth training schemes were launched
0:16:59 > 0:17:04in an attempt to try and get people off benefits and back into work.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07The YTS was particularly unpopular.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10Seen as nothing more than cheap labour.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14And for those who couldn't find work, life on the Broo was tough.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17I found it really difficult to juggle everything.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20So sometimes there'd be periods when
0:17:20 > 0:17:22I wouldn't have electricity and things.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25I remember in a particular flat, I'd found out from an electrician
0:17:25 > 0:17:28friend of mine that you could wind the meter back.
0:17:28 > 0:17:35And so I managed to buy a Scalextric power pack, that you cut the terminals off and if you...
0:17:35 > 0:17:38And this is back in the days, obviously, when the meters
0:17:38 > 0:17:41were completely different and all that kind of thing.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44If you put it up behind the wires, it would reverse the polarity.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46So you could spin the meter back.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51But what happened was that I spun it back so far, I was into negative
0:17:51 > 0:17:55kind of territory, so I had to do that thing of having two or three days with all the lights
0:17:55 > 0:18:00and the oven on to try and get it to like a reasonable stage again.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03You shouldn't do that. It's not big and it's not clever.
0:18:03 > 0:18:09For more and more people, life on the Broo was becoming a much longer prospect.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Particular parts of the country,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16often associated with manufacturing or mining,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19had very large concentrations of unemployed people.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25They went from unemployment benefit on to incapacity benefit, other forms of benefit.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29And the families became welfare-dependent.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34And, as a result of that, the next generation of the family to a certain
0:18:34 > 0:18:38extent became welfare-dependent and, of course, this is what
0:18:38 > 0:18:41really the last government and the current government
0:18:41 > 0:18:45are extremely worried about - long-term benefit dependency.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51Between 1979 and 1995, there were 33 changes to the definition of
0:18:51 > 0:18:55unemployment - each time defining more and more people out.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57What was happening was the Government was trying to
0:18:57 > 0:19:01constrain the numbers of people who could claim unemployment benefit.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05That meant that people who were unable to work had to claim a different kind of benefit.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11If those people were sick or disabled, they could take a test to see if they were fit to work.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15If they were not fit to work they could claim incapacity benefits.
0:19:15 > 0:19:22In 1978, there were 800,000 men and women of working age on sickness benefit.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27By 1992, that figure had risen to 2.2 million.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31These people were living life on the Broo without registering as unemployed.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35In Scotland, roughly, 280,000 people
0:19:35 > 0:19:40on incapacity benefit or employment and support allowance.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44That's at least 60% of the total workless population.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48And, out of that group, 80% of them have been unemployed for two years or
0:19:48 > 0:19:52more, and nearly two thirds have been unemployed for five years or more.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56So that's where the very long-term unemployed people sit.
0:19:56 > 0:19:57Statistics aren't available any more,
0:19:57 > 0:20:02but I would estimate that maybe half of them haven't worked for ten years or more.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07There is an oft-quoted figure, which is that once you've been on
0:20:07 > 0:20:13incapacity benefit for two years or more, then you're more likely to die or retire than get a job.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18So it's not an unemployment benefit, it's not a transition between one job
0:20:18 > 0:20:21and another, it becomes almost like a benefit for life.
0:20:21 > 0:20:27Labour came to power in 1997, pledging to overhaul the benefits system.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33Job Centres became open plan, in the parlance of the day, more inclusive.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36There was Job Seeker's Allowance, a new deal to help people back
0:20:36 > 0:20:40into the workplace and benefits were paid directly into bank accounts.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45Then, in 2008, the credit crunch.
0:20:45 > 0:20:51Suddenly the middle-aged, middle class and middle management were losing their jobs.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54I'd worked for the same company for quite some time.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56It was almost 23 years I'd been there.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58The last ten years as a middle manager.
0:20:58 > 0:21:04It was the photographic industry so, during that time, it had gone through a lot of changes because
0:21:04 > 0:21:07of digital, etc, but it was performing well.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09And then along came the credit crunch.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11We were one of the first victims of that.
0:21:13 > 0:21:20We were told at work, on an early day in December, and later on that week we no longer had jobs.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23My wife also worked for the company, she'd been there for a similar
0:21:23 > 0:21:27amount of time to me, so it was a bit of a double whammy, frankly.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30So, yeah, it was pretty difficult.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34It wasn't just those losing their jobs who were struggling to cope.
0:21:34 > 0:21:35When I started, I was obviously new.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38I was a student at the time. It was a part-time job.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44A lot of the other staff I worked with had been there for 30 years
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and weren't used to working with this type of person.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Weren't used to looking for the type of jobs they were being asked to look for.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Weren't used to having people want to come in on a regular basis
0:21:55 > 0:21:59to get help, rather than chasing people to come in.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04Their expectations had totally changed of what their quality of life was going to be like.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07In their heads, life was going to continue this way - they were
0:22:07 > 0:22:10going to year-on-year get a promotion, get a pay rise.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Everything was looking rosy.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Initially it was a holiday. The first month was great - it was just time off.
0:22:17 > 0:22:23The second month again, you know, you're kind of gearing up to find a job - you're looking around,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27you're starting to send your CV out to people.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29You're starting to find a routine.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32After a three-month period, you start to worry.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35And it gets worse and worse after that. In my case anyway.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38As I say, after nine months I was
0:22:38 > 0:22:41really delighted to find something.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43It really does...
0:22:43 > 0:22:47It's not just a financial price you're paying.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51There's self-esteem issues as well. There's no getting around that.
0:22:51 > 0:22:57As the credit crunch continued, ever-increasing numbers were claiming unemployment benefits.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Perhaps surprisingly, that was also helping to keep a shaky economy stable.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07When the economy goes into recession, more people become unemployed.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13The Government pays them unemployment benefit and the money from that
0:23:13 > 0:23:17feeds back into the economy because people spend...
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Unemployed people spend all their unemployment benefit because it's
0:23:20 > 0:23:26not that generous, and that actually helps keep the economy ticking along.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30So it's what we call an automatic stabiliser.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34One of the biggest victims of this recession has been jobs for the young.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39Unemployment among 16 to 24 year olds has been rising relentlessly.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44And most won't qualify for Job Seeker's Allowance until they turn 18.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47It's hard for my age because I'm only 18.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Not really many places they're actually taking people on.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Like you all have to have experience and all that nowadays
0:23:54 > 0:23:57and it's not as if we're going to have experience for it.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59You have to start somewhere.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01I have to sign on every two weeks
0:24:01 > 0:24:03and have a diary of the job searching I do.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Then it's like, the more you're on it,
0:24:06 > 0:24:11like three months, then they start to nag you to get a job. It's worse.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14It gets more irritating and annoying, I'd say.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17You can't get any benefits until you're 18,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19which I don't find very fair.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24Why should somebody at 18 get them but somebody a bit younger can't?
0:24:24 > 0:24:29And it does make it hard when you've got like no money and you're
0:24:29 > 0:24:34getting older, so obviously you can't expect your ma and da to pay for everything.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38I've been trying since, like, about Christmas time.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42I've been handing out CVs and nobody's got back.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46Every time I fill in an application form, it comes up "rejection".
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Because like, even if it's just say for KFC, for instance,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54I applied - automatic response e-mail saying, "You've been rejected."
0:24:54 > 0:24:56How could the automatic response e-mail know?
0:24:56 > 0:24:59How does that automatic system know? That's what I don't know, as well.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02At 12 o'clock at night, I applied for it.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04There was nobody looking at it.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10Today, for those old enough to qualify, life on the Broo is complex.
0:25:10 > 0:25:16There's a multitude of options and often people qualify for more than one.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20In 2002, as leader of the opposition, Iain Duncan Smith
0:25:20 > 0:25:22pledged to simplify the benefits system
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and visited Easterhouse on a fact-finding mission.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32- Rubbish!- Iain Duncan Smith almost became my hero.
0:25:32 > 0:25:38I took him to the Labour Party Conference in 2005.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40He amazed me
0:25:40 > 0:25:45because he stood up and he criticised the Labour Government
0:25:45 > 0:25:49for putting benefits at too low a level.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52He argued that it didn't take people out of poverty.
0:25:52 > 0:25:59And he argued that benefits, including unemployment pay, should be
0:25:59 > 0:26:04at the level where people could fully interact with their community.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09So life on the Broo looks set to change again.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13Iain Duncan Smith is now Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17He's expected to announce that he'll be replacing all the different benefits with just one -
0:26:17 > 0:26:21the so-called "universal credit".
0:26:21 > 0:26:26The idea of the universal credit is to simplify the benefits system.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28If you're currently unemployed
0:26:28 > 0:26:32but thinking of getting a job, it may be the case
0:26:32 > 0:26:39that, for every £10 you earn, you'll lose say £8 in different benefits.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44So, you're effectively paying tax at 80%, which is much higher
0:26:44 > 0:26:50than even the best paid chief executive is being taxed.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53So the idea of the universal credit
0:26:53 > 0:26:58is to simplify that and to ensure that tax rate is reduced so that
0:26:58 > 0:27:03people see a real benefit from taking on extra hours
0:27:03 > 0:27:07of work, moving to a new place to take a new job and so on.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13We've had 100 years of life on the Broo, it's part of our culture.
0:27:13 > 0:27:14An everyday presence.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20Now, a century on, is it about to turn full circle?
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Many governments have shown a desire to simplify the system.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29They think that by getting back to basics, by cutting things down, that the system will work better.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33But the system's been simplified many times and it always becomes more complicated again.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35There's a good reason for that.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39The circumstances that it's dealing with affect millions of people.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43Many of those people have extremely complicated lives.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46What we get is the impression from the Government that things have always
0:27:46 > 0:27:52been done badly and ineffectively and improperly and they'll be the first people to do it right.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54I'm sorry, they're deluding themselves.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58Robbie Dalrymple found work after nine months on the Broo
0:27:58 > 0:28:03with the Wise Group - an organisation helping the long-term unemployed back to work.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08These days, Hugh Gaffney is a union official in North Lanarkshire.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13Mark Lyken spent his time on the Broo creatively and now makes a living as an artist.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18And Rebecca, Dylan, Bobby and Megan are still hoping to get the jobs
0:28:18 > 0:28:22that'll help them escape life on the Broo.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:43 > 0:28:46E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk