Resisting or enabling? The roll-out of neoliberal values through the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciaran Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Community Sector ◽  
Roll Out

scholarly journals Impact of Universal Credit in North East England: a qualitative study of claimants and support staff

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. e029611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandy Cheetham ◽  
Suzanne Moffatt ◽  
Michelle Addison ◽  
Alice Wiseman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
North East ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Community Sector ◽  
Roll Out

ObjectivesTo understand the impact of the roll-out of Universal Credit (UC) from the perspectives of claimants and staff supporting them in North East England.DesignQualitative study comprising interviews and focus groups.SettingGateshead and Newcastle, two localities in North East England characterised by high levels of socioeconomic deprivation, where the roll-out of UC started in 2017 as a new way to deliver welfare benefits for the UK working age population.Participants33 UC claimants with complex needs, disabilities and health conditions and 37 staff from local government, housing, voluntary and community sector organisations.ResultsParticipants’ accounts of the UC claims process and the consequences of managing on UC are reported; UC negatively impacts on material wellbeing, physical and mental health, social and family lives. UC claimants described the digital claims process as complicated, disorientating, impersonal, hostile and demeaning. Claimants reported being pushed into debt, rent arrears, housing insecurity, fuel and food poverty through UC. System failures, indifference and delays in receipt of UC entitlements exacerbated the difficulties of managing on a low income. The threat of punitive sanctions for failing to meet the enhanced conditionality requirements under UC added to claimant’s vulnerabilities and distress. Staff reported concerns for claimants and additional pressures on health services, local government and voluntary and community sector organisations as a result of UC.ConclusionsThe findings add considerable detail to emerging evidence of the deleterious effects of UC on vulnerable claimants’ health and wellbeing. Our evidence suggests that UC is undermining vulnerable claimants’ mental health, increasing the risk of poverty, hardship, destitution and suicidality. Major, evidence-informed revisions are required to improve the design and implementation of UC to prevent further adverse effects before large numbers of people move on to UC, as planned by the UK government.

Re-engaging with community work as a method of practice in social work: A view from Northern Ireland

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaitali Das ◽  
Martin O’Neill ◽  
John Pinkerton
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
The State ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Community Work ◽  
Current Context ◽  
Community Sector

Summary This article investigates community work as a method in social work in Northern Ireland. It traces the processes that have led to the marginalisation of community work within social work practices and the complex relationship between community development and social work. Nonetheless, the welfare state is undergoing change, wherein new agendas of personalisation, service user involvement, community engagement and partnership are emerging, which are changing the occupational space of social work. We argue that this change can be an opportunity through which social work can and must re-engage with community development, particularly within the existing political arrangements and sectarian context of Northern Ireland. However, social work’s engagement in the community presents risks given its current relationship with the state and loss of trust within the Northern Irish community. We discuss these risks and further possibilities. Findings The article draws from contemporary literature on the current context of community development and service provision in Northern Ireland social work’s involvement. The possibilities for community social work are explored through recent policy initiatives and the current situation of the community sector. Risks that stem from social work’s relationship with the state, and with community organisations as well as the contradiction between discourses of partnership in service delivery and the ground reality are considered. Applications Our analysis suggests the need for (a) collective action by social workers through collective representation, (b) a new conceptualisation of professionalism that incorporates partnerships with other workers in the care sector and (c) education that has contemporary resonance.

Path to Scottish independence will be difficult

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Green Party ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Absolute Majority ◽  
Successful Vaccine ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Scottish Independence ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Roll Out

Significance Having fallen one seat short of an absolute majority, the SNP will form a government with the Green Party, which also supports independence. After the election results, SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it is only “a matter of time” before Scotland holds another referendum on independence. Impacts The UK government’s rejection of a second referendum risks fuelling support for Scottish independence. London's successful vaccine roll-out and economic support is unlikely significantly to shift support vis-a-vis Scottish independence. A referendum victory in favour of Scottish independence would likely undermine support for the Union in Wales and Northern Ireland.

scholarly journals The politics of youth justice reform in post-conflict societies: mainstreaming restorative justice in Northern Ireland and South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-290
Author(s):  
David O'Mahony ◽  
Jonathan Doak ◽  
Kerry Clamp
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Political Transitions ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Roll Out

Criminal justice reform plays a pivotal role in helping to foster reconciliation and peace-building in postconflict societies. In the wake of their respective political transitions, both Northern Ireland and South Africa have formulated proposals for reform of their youth justice systems based upon restorative principles. This article analyses the attempts to roll out these reforms in both jurisdictions. It considers why new youth justice arrangements have largely been well received in Northern Ireland, yet have struggled to be implemented successfully in South Africa and reflects on possible lessons to be learnt in the context of postconflict transformations.

Masculinities in Transition? Exclusion, Ethnosocial Power, and Contradictions in Excombatant Community-based Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 729-755
Author(s):  
Curtis Holland ◽  
Gordana Rabrenovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Disaffection ◽  
And Control ◽  
Community Sector

This study critically examines how masculinities and intersecting ethnonational and social class identities underscore the social and political agencies of excombatants in Northern Ireland and in the specific context of community-based peacebuilding. The authors draw on interviews with female and male leaders in grassroots and governmental organizations, which illustrate how state-led practices of exclusion reshape such intersectional identities and increase the instrumentality of hypermasculinist, pseudo-paramilitary practices in maintaining excombatants’ status and control on neighborhood levels. The research documents how structural dynamics of excombatants’ social class locations and political disaffection help shape their social agencies of “resistance,” underscored by desires for autonomy and recognition, and channeled by ethnogendered scripts rooted in both violent cultures of paramilitarism and nonviolent peacebuilding masculinities. The implications on women of male excombatants’ takeover of leadership roles in the community sector are also discussed.

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