Policy

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Policy Practice SOW 1201

• Lecture 2
• Why do we have a welfare state and what exactly
  is it supposed to do?

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Overview of Lecture (1)

• Three Parts
• In order to answer the question - why do we have
  a welfare state - we need to know a little about
  the early development of welfare in Britain up to
  the 1970s or so

3
Overview of Lecture (2)

• We need also to locate this British development
  in a comparative framework what is distinct and
  similar about Britains welfare development?
• This requires exploration of
• 2a The key factors involved in why
• welfare systems develop
• 2b Systems of classifying welfare systems
• 2c Understanding where Britain fits in these
• classifications

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Overview of Lecture (3)

• Finally in order to address the first question in
  more detail we need to ask
• 3a) what exactly do these different types of
  state welfare provision do? Including some
  attention to what is happening to welfare
  provision in Britain now
• Then we will, at the end of the lecture, be in a
  better position to address the rather tougher
  question
• 3b) - what are they supposed to be doing?

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1a Historical Stages in the Development of the
British Welfare State

• 1 Pre Poor Law
• Early forms of welfare Vagrancy Laws paupers
  forcibly removed if they were from another parish
  could not support themselves
• 1601 Vagrancy Act made provision to set the poor
  on work
• Some out relief at end of 18th century

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2 The Poor Law 1834

• Belief that population was increasing beyond the
  means to feed to be fed - Malthus
• The Poor Law Commission recommended that
• - the workhouse test no relief outside
  workhouse
• - less eligibility relief inside lower than
  one could earn outside it
• Poor Laws first attempt by govt. to impose order
  in the giving of aid
• Principle of less eligibility and the deliberate
  stigma attached to claimants still very much
  present today!

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3 Gradual Involvement of State

• Enormous social problems in mid/late 19th century
  by contemporary 1st world standards Outcast
  London example origins of social work problem
  of how to ration resources deserving poor , of
  course, undeserving poor
• British nation building gradual take over of
  work by state of work previously done by church
  charities e.g.1870 Education Act (free
  compulsory education up to 11)Public Health and
  Factory Act reforms gradual extension of local
  government (beginnings of town planning,
  council housing etc) WHY ??? return to below
• National administrative systems established for
  education and public health

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4 Post War Reforms Universalist Welfare State

• Five Giants Attacked by the 1944 Beveridge
  Report
• Want Social Security Universal National
  Insurance
• Ignorance Education free till 15
• Disease National Health Service free at point
  of delivery
• Squalor Extension of council housing and New
  Towns family allowances
• Idleness combination of less eligibility rule
  and free education
• This Report was widely welcomed as a big
  improvement of previous arrangements. It contains
  3 principal elements
• A guaranteed minimum standard including income
• Social protection in the event of insecurity
• Provision of services at best level possible?
  social citizenship
• Please note no initial plans for personal social
  services assumed want would be abolished!
  residiium would need assistance PSS for the
  residuum/underclass?

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However.

• In practice post war British welfare may have
  guaranteed welfare as a right and included
  considerable protection BUT
• - whilst coverage was extensive, benefits
• services were generally always delivered at a
  low level
• - social protection was patchy single women
  disabled people
• - services tightly rationed
• The Beveridge model was based on
• - Work being equated with paid male labour
• - Therefore a patriarchal conception of
  families male breadwinner with dependents
• - assumption of full male employment
• - Welfare services being geared up to this
  traditional family model
• - the promotion of national solidarity
  ethnicity?
• - managing life course risks through national
  insurance spreading income out over life
  time

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2 Comparative Framework 2a The Key Factors in
Why Welfare Systems Develop?

• Demographic economic as states get more
  complex then welfare automatically develops
  poor explanation
• Politics demands from below trade unions
  and concerns from above industrialists and
  reformers implementing from above partial
  explanation
• Multi-dimensional
• Clearly the latter is the most useful
• How best to think about the different elements
  that go towards why welfare state systems develop?

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2b Systems of Classifying Welfare States

• Simple classification
• Institutional model UK universal minima
  offered to all
• Institutional- Redistributive or Social
  Democratic model Sweden comprehensive
  provision with a commitment to egalitarianism
• Liberal or residual model USA individuals
  largely expected to provide for themselves
  welfare for the residuals..often attached to a
  punitive view of the poor

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An improved way of thinking about this issue

• Esping-Andersen (1990, 1999) brought previous
  ways of thinking about this issue together
  tried to theorise welfare states as combinations
  of political/economic and social factors and
  called them regime types
• He analysed
• the level of state spending
• de-commodification the extent to which welfare
  was provided by non-market providers
• stratification the extent to which access to
  welfare was determined by ones social class

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In practice this meanswe can classify welfare
regimes
Sweden Germany USA
Regime Type Social Democratic Corporatist Liberal
Political Base Broad-based compromise Employer/ Worker coalition Free Market
Service Type Universal Occupational Residual
Public Expenditure High level High Level Low level
Labour Market High Employment High Wage High Wage Low Wage
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2c Where Does Britain Fit in?

• Britain led the way in trying to provide a
  comprehensive universal welfare system post
  1945 welfare reforms did represent an important
  leap forward.but not very extensive..not very
  social democratic!
• For, at root, our benefits are at best modest
  often dependent on means testing, with limited
  transfers between rich poor, encouragement of
  private welfare..but not liberal either. More
  about life time recycling of resources

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Britain an odd mixa peculiar welfare state

• There is still a strong foundation of universal
  principles in the education and health sectors
  and some continuing commitment to universal
  social benefits at a low level.
• But we tolerate and encourage private
  provision.and much welfare change of the last
  few years has not done an enormous amount to
  redistribute income from rich to poor
• Britain combines elements of the liberal or
  residual welfare system with strong remnants of a
  social democratic regime education and health

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Overview of British States welfare provision

• As we saw last week the British state principally
  provides 5 social services
• Social Security benefits, pensions etc income
  maintenance and Employment Policy
• Education
• Health
• Housing
• Personal Social Services
• One difference from last week we now have to
  recognise that Employment Policy is key to
  understanding contemporary welfare
• Lets look at each in turn bearing in mind our
  discussion so far today

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3a what exactly does these different types of
state welfare provision do? and what are they
supposed to do?

• 1a Income Maintenance
• involves some redistribution through some state
  benefits last week/session
• Public expenditure on state benefits growing
  despite attempts to control. 103 bn in 2003/4.
  50.5bn insurance based 29.7 means tested
• Increasing shift from insurance based to
  assistance based (means tested) in last 25 years
• Entitlement and take up rates very between
  unemployed, pensioners, etc..details later in
  unit
• Non-take up big problem not least for social
  workers working with poor users
• Means testing can lead to unemployment and
  poverty traps - explain
• New Labour has instituted large reviews of social
  security and has increased some benefits for
  families and children child tax credits..but
  sees principal fight against poverty as being
  through getting people into employment see Case
  Study

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1b Employment Policy

• Not in 1940s reforms but now very important
• Merged with social security Dept of Work
  Pensions
• Key New Labour priority - Welfare to work key
  policy initiative New Deal for unemployed more
  of on next slide
• EU law in conflict social programme with UK
  expands British employment rights and employment
  protection considerably

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New Labours New Deal

• New Labour made commitment to replace past
  employment support provision with a New Deal for
  the unemployed
• Compulsory training and work experience aligned
  to renewed commitment to help key groups gain
  entry to labour market
• New Deal Programmes cover
• Young People 18-24 long term unemployed lone
  parents partners of unemployed disabled people
  50 plus partners
• This has been combined with
• Statutory minimum wage
• Working families tax credits
• Family friendly employment rights maternity
  paternity leave
• See Alcock P (2003) pp 124-126 for more discussion

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Employment Key for Solving Poverty for New Labour

• Implicit in the New Deal is the above assumption
• This is a contentious assumption
• No good producing employment opportunities if
  people not able to take them for good welfare
  reasons e.g. single parents
• What will happen in periods of economic downturn
  when jobs are scarce?
• New Deal could be seen as WORKFARE..not WELFARE
  at allbut then again principal source of
  welfare is a job!

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2 Education

• Universal free education provided from 1945 from
  5-15now 16..next year 17
• Is free education provided to educate (liberal
  view) or train (social capital view) and sort
  people out into labour market allocations think
  about it? Return to at end of lecture
• Some levels are provided free by state primary,
  secondary, further ..but higher and nursery not
  completely . Should they be?
• 50 to be in HE by 2007.8 in the 1960s
• Private school provision allowed
• New Labour targets extra resources to certain
  schools categories of pupils

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3 Health

• Improving health not necessarily same as treating
  illness different policy priorities
• The NHS was established in 1948 by Labour the
  Conservative Party opposed.
• Largely free service but has always charged for
  certain services notably prescriptions
• Approximately 7 million people covered by private
  health insurance
• Increasing encouragement development of
  partnerships between private contractors and the
  NHS see in particular, private finance
  initiative

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4 Housing

• Exploitation of tenants, over-crowding public
  health issues led to initial intervention by
  state against racketeer private landlords
• Government accepted responsibility for providing
  all with homes after 1st WW Homes Fit for
  Heroes
• Housing stock now primarily owner occupied
  orientated just over 70 of population own
  their own houses
• Certain categories of homeless people have
  statutory right to public housing
• Much confusion about the present large scale
  voluntary transfers LSVTs - of housing stock
  from local authorities to housing associations
• 3 scenarios will public housing still be a
  public service controlled by LAs? Or Is it an
  opportunity to get local democratically run
  housing? Or is it the re-introduction of private
  landlordism by the back door?
• See Ginsburg N 2005 The Privatization of Public
  Housing, Critical Social Policy, Vol 25, No 1, pp
  115-135

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5 Personal Social Services (a)

• Early development dominated by charitable, often
  church, provision
• Late 1940s statutory responsibility largely
  transferred to new local authority based
  Childrens, and Health and Welfare Depts
• Seebohm Reforms of 1971 one generic social
  service dept. Preventive social work?
• Since 1990s particularly under pressure of high
  profile child abuse cases gradual return to
  specialisms fire fighting?

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5 Personal Social Services (b)

• Work with child offenders shifts between welfare
  justice approaches
• All SSDs since 1990 are required to produce
  community care plans
• SSDs have various different names now!
• Huge decline in residential provision and shift
  to community, or smaller scale, residential
  provision
• Mixed economy see last week now for community
  care provision LAs having to purchase 85 of
  their provision from private or voluntary sectors
• Social care not free at point of delivery for all
  but is in Scotland!
• Increasing use of charges for domiciliary support
  care
• Some SSDs employ welfare rights workers to help
  poor clients the majority to improve their
  incomes through better take up of benefits

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3b What are the social services supposed to do?
(a)

• This as I hope you are beginning to realise is
  quite a complex question and one we cannot
  really answer properly today.
• But next week/session we will see that the
  different welfare ideologies produce very
  different answers to the question
• By way of a taster..

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3b What are the social services supposed to do?
(b)

• Various possible interpretations
• Literal they do that they say they do do
  they?
• Functionalist as industrialisation/capitalism
  develops welfare services emerge to carry out
  certain functionsexplain difference between
  manifest latent functions see next slide for
  social work
• Political welfare is a combination of struggles
  from below for a better life and the needs from
  above - of industry for an educated, healthy
  workforce
• Beneficent welfare emerges in response to
  awareness of hardship moral reform

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Social Work Manifest and Latent Functions

• Manifest Functions
• Services for those who through no fault of
  their own fall through the welfare net
• An accountable professional activity that enables
  individuals, families and groups identify
  personal environmental differences adversely
  affecting them ( CCETW, 1991)
• Protecting children and the vulnerable
• To enable social inclusion to take place
• Latent Functions?
• A social control device to police and contain
  the less well off and potentially rebellious
  sections of the population
• A largely bureaucratic, procedural activity with
  little or no professional discretion
  legalistic, formal and arms length
• Assessing and managing potential risk and
  dangerousness
• A compensatory service for those who are largely
  socially excluded from large aspects of the
  social order confirming their exclusion
• Discuss in seminars