scholarly journals Internal coordination of social security in the United Kingdom

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-162
Author(s):  
Ed Gareth Poole ◽  
Guto Ifan

Although social security is traditionally viewed as a highly centralised function in the UK, health care and long-term social care have long been devolved to sub-state governments, an arrangement requiring extensive internal coordination agreements. This coordination has various objectives, including ensuring parity of benefits provision in Northern Ireland (where social assistance is devolved) and Great Britain (where it is centralised), securing financial reimbursements for cross-border health care provision, and determining responsibility and eligibility criteria for individuals in need of social care. Further devolution and decentralisation of social security benefits over the past decade have made such coordination arrangements even more essential.

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-152
Author(s):  
Silvio Bologna

This contribution deals with the internal coordination of health care, long-term social care and social assistance schemes – covered by EU regulation no. 883/2004 – in Italy after the constitutional reform enacted in 2001, which significantly decentralised legislative and administrative machinery by strengthening the prerogatives of the Regions, especially in terms of organisation and funding of the services. This article seeks to demonstrate that, although the decentralisation of health care and long-term social care has been accompanied by mechanisms of internal coordination among the Regions (particularly in the field of inter-regional mobility), regional social assistance schemes providing money transfers lack any form of coordination.


Author(s):  
Andy Jolly

The ‘Air Jamaica generation’ of migrants to the UK over the past 30 years has received less political and scholarly attention than the so-called Windrush generation. Children of this generation are often invisible in social policy discussions because they lack the legal right to paid employment, and are subject to the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) rule. This excludes them from accessing welfare provision, including most social security benefits, council housing and homelessness assistance. This chapter examines support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, one of the few welfare entitlements which children and families with NRPF retain, arguing that, without access to mainstream social security, section 17 is an inadequate safety net to prevent poverty. The chapter concludes that this is rooted in discriminatory legislation and policy, resulting in situations which, while structural in cause, would be viewed as neglectful if perpetrated by a parent or carer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-182
Author(s):  
Jaan Paju

This article begins with an overview of the structure of local governance in Sweden. It then examines the division of competences between municipalities and county councils, and the population register that determines the applicable law. Following this, the article focuses on health care schemes and the possibility for the competent county council to determine substantive health care. The municipalities’ responsibility for long term social care is then considered. Finally, the municipalities’ room for manoeuvre in relation to the social assistance scheme is reviewed. The concluding section discusses Sweden’s decentralised approach to social security.


Author(s):  
Peter Dwyer

This chapter focuses on the rights and responsibilities of disabled people in the UK and the ways in which their rights to work and social security benefits have been subject to contestation and redefinition, particularly since the introduction of Employment and Support Allowance in 2008. In the past, both governments and citizens generally tended to support the claims of long-term sick and disabled people to social security benefits for two reasons. First, because disabled people fitted commonly held views about a legitimate need for provision of financial support and care through the public welfare system. Second, because the cause of their inactivity in the paid labour market was seen by many as being beyond their control. Disabled people have long challenged such discriminatory views and demanded the eradication of disabling attitudes and environments, so that they can realise effective rights to paid employment. Similarly, criticisms of the disabling welfare state and the role it has played in the systematic and entrenched social exclusion of disabled people in respect of their rights to work and welfare must be acknowledged.


2020 ◽  
pp. jech-2020-214770
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Richardson ◽  
Martin Taulbut ◽  
Mark Robinson ◽  
Andrew Pulford ◽  
Gerry McCartney

BackgroundLife expectancy (LE) improvements have stalled, and UK tax and welfare ‘reforms’ have been proposed as a cause. We estimated the effects of tax and welfare reforms from 2010/2011 to 2021/2022 on LE and inequalities in LE in Scotland.MethodsWe applied a published estimate of the cumulative income impact of the reforms to the households within Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles. We estimated the impact on LE by applying a rate ratio for the impact of income on mortality rates (by age group, sex and SIMD quintile) and calculating the difference between inflation-only changes in benefits and the reforms.ResultsWe estimated that changes to household income resulting from the reforms would result in an additional 1041 (+3.7%) female deaths and 1013 (+3.8%) male deaths. These deaths represent an estimated reduction of female LE from 81.6 years to 81.2 years (−20 weeks), and male LE from 77.6 years to 77.2 years (−23 weeks). Cuts to benefits and tax credits were modelled to have the most detrimental impact on LE, and these were estimated to be most severe in the most deprived areas. The modelled impact on inequalities in LE was widening of the gap between the most and least deprived 20% of areas by a further 21 weeks for females and 23 weeks for males.InterpretationThis study provides further evidence that austerity, in the form of cuts to social security benefits, is likely to be an important cause of stalled LE across the UK.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Dunbar

In spite of the long-term dominance in Britain and Ireland of English, other indigenous languages continue to be spoken, and in relatively recent years several of those languages have benefited not only from a more coherent and supportive language policy but also from significant language legislation. One of the interesting features of these other indigenous languages is that, although strongly associated with rural ‘heartlands’ in the particular jurisdictions with which they are associated, they are also spoken in other parts of those jurisdictions, and, indeed, in other parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland. In this article, the ways in which the concept of territoriality has impacted upon legislation and on broader policy for two of these languages, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, will be considered.


2008 ◽  
Vol 137 (6) ◽  
pp. 762-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. TRUSCOTT ◽  
N. M. FERGUSON

SUMMARYScrapie is a fatal neurological disease of sheep which is endemic in the United Kingdom. It is one of the family of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) that includes BSE. In this paper, we developed a micro-simulation model for scrapie in the UK sheep population, incorporating the genetic and structural diversity of the population and infectious contact between flocks through trading. The simulation was fitted to epidemiological data from a range of sources. We found a detection/reporting probability of 16% (95% CI 12–17) for animals dying of scrapie. Prevalence of infected animals in the population was about 0·15%. Infected individuals were found in 9% of flocks overall, rising to 60% in Shetland and 75% in Swaledale flocks. Mean values of R0 for flocks varied with breed from 2·43 (Shetland) to 0·21 (Suffolk). We also examined the possible long-term persistence of scrapie in the UK flock in the absence of any intervention.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 2555-2577
Author(s):  
D. H. Holt

Abstract. A content analysis has been completed on a text from the UK that has gathered agricultural and climate data from the years AD 220 to 1977 from 100s of sources. The content analysis coded all references to climate and agriculture to ascertain which climate events were recorded and which were not. This study addressed the question: is there bias in human records of climate? This evaluated the continuous record (AD 1654–1977), discontinous record (AD 220–1653), the whole record (AD 220–1977), the Little Climate Optimum (AD 850–1250) and the Little Ice Age (AD 1450–1880). This study shows that there is no significant variation in any of these periods in frequency occurrence of "good" or "bad" climate suggesting humans are not recording long-term changes in climate, but they are recording weather phenomenon as it occurs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
K B Ravindra

The importance of Labour Welfare in Industrialisation and Economic Development has been recognized globally. It is an important dimension in Industrial Relations, which includes overall welfare facilities designed to take care of well being of Employees and Workers. During the 1990s, the measures of economic reforms introduced in the country have given rise to a wave of rapid and radical changes in the structure and working of our economy. Globalization, Liberalisation, Privatisation, etc. have completely changed the functioning of the Indian Economy and forced the employees, workers, and their organizations to adapt and adjust by reorienting their ways to survive and thrive amidst the forces of change and competition. The aspect of Labour Welfare and Social Security has tremendous significance in the Public Sector, Private Sector and Multinational Organisations. It is firmly believed that money and environment given to employees is a long term investment and will never go waste. Against this backdrop, a detailed study has been conducted at Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd, Bengaluru, a Public Sector Organisation. Primary data collected through a Structured Questionnaire from 100 respondents covering all levels and departments has revealed that most of the Labour Welfare and Social Security provisions are being satisfactorily provided by the company to its employees and workers. It is suggested that the company carefully look into those areas where employees/workers have expressed dissatisfaction. The article concludes by stating that if an organisation provides good welfare and social security benefits, then it will be able to procure and develop a unique pool of people who can continuously take the organization to new levels of growth and sustainability.


Author(s):  
Thomas Klammer ◽  
Neil Wilner ◽  
Jan Smolarski

Capital expenditures can be crucial to firms long-term success, especially in a complex global environment. As companies increasingly compete in the global market place, it is important to study project evaluation processes from an international perspective. Capital investments involve substantial monetary commitments and risks that affect long-term firm profitability and influence capital allocation decisions in the future. Survey research in the area of capital expenditure analysis has been extensively done in both the United States [US] and the United Kingdom [UK]. This research is the first comparative survey of practices in both countries that we are aware of. A direct comparison of the use of project evaluation, management science, and risk management techniques in the two countries is made. The survey instrument used is an adaptation of the Klammer [1970] instrument that has been used repeatedly in surveys of American firms. This is the first time that it has been applied to British firms. The use of a common instrument allows for more meaningful comparisons. The samples consisted of 127 American and 59 British firms with sales of at least $100 million and capital expenditures of at least $10 million. Preliminary results indicate a continued extensive use of discounted cash flow techniques by US firms. Techniques such as payback or urgency continue to be used, but to a lesser degree than discounting. Firms in the UK also make extensive use of discounting but do so to a lesser degree than their American counterparts. Payback is widely used in the UK. Risk management techniques are widely used in both countries, with sensitivity analysis being the most popular technique in both countries. Extensive use of technical and administrative procedures, such as detailed budgets, standardized forms and post-audits, are evidenced in both countries. The paper offers reasons that have to do with organizational structure and form, as well as market differences, to explain our results.


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