Establishing a national standard: the role of the UK’s Minimum Income Standard in policy and practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 307-318
Author(s):  
Donald Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
National Standard ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Uk

This chapter promotes the UK Minimum Income Standards (MIS) as a benchmark in social policy and practice. It explains how the MIS research continues to have a strong influence over social policy debates in Britain and exposes the inadequacy of the national minimum wage that helped fuel the campaign for a “living wage.” It also features MIS as a key element in the new Scottish measure of fuel poverty. The chapter observes how MIS has not been taken up by governments as a standard for setting or targeting minimum incomes in terms of social protection. It observes that it will require a major political commitment to redistribution if the British government were to adopt MIS.

An introduction to minimum income standards and reference budgets: international and comparative policy perspectives

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-24
Author(s):  
Christopher Deeming
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
Protection Systems ◽  
Social Protection Systems ◽  
Budget Standards ◽  
Reference Budgets

This chapter gives an overview of the research in developing “minimum income standards” and “family budget standards,” “indicative budgets” and “standard budgets.” It analyzes goods and services that are considered necessary to reach a minimum standard of living for an individual or household within a given country context, region, or city. It also brings together up-to-date and accessible information and analysis in an effort to raise the profile and understanding of reference budget research. The chapter places minimum income standards at the heart of global social policy debates that focus on strengthening social protection systems. It also discusses reference budgets and minimum income standards research, covering different methodologies and approaches in relation to the implementation of policy and practice.

Why Countries ‘Get Tough on the Work-Shy’: The Role of Adverse Economic Conditions

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (03) ◽  
pp. 615-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARLO KNOTZ
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Clear Trend ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Large N ◽  
Economic Downturns ◽  
Historical Periods

AbstractThere has been a clear trend toward greater conditionality and coercion in labour market and social policy in recent decades, a key part of which is tougher sanctions for unemployment benefit claimants who refuse offers of employment or otherwise fail to comply with their obligations. Our understanding of this trend and its determinants is so far built only on a corpus of small-N evidence, while systematic comparative large-N analyses are lacking. As a result, the broad patterns of policy change and their general political drivers remain underexplored. This paper fills this gap by examining unemployment benefit sanction reforms in 20 democracies between 1980 and 2012 using an original dataset. It is shown that governments introduce tougher sanctions in order to reconcile two competing pressures that arise during economic downturns: an increased need for social protection and reduced fiscal revenues. The findings, which are also applicable to other historical periods and policy areas, provide an impulse for future comparative large-N research on ‘demanding activation’ policies.

scholarly journals Social Inclusion, Participation and Citizenship in Contexts of Neoliberalism: Examples of Adult Education Policy and Practice with Young People in the UK, The Netherlands and Ireland

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-78
Author(s):  
Nathalie Huegler ◽  
Natasha Kersh
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Young People ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Economic Perspectives ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThis chapter focuses on contexts where public discourses regarding the education of young adults have been dominated by socio-economic perspectives, with a focus on the role of employment-related learning, skills and chances and with active participation in the labour market as a key concern for policy makers. A focus on ‘employability’ alone has been linked to narrow conceptualisations of participation, inclusion and citizenship, arising in the context of discourse shifts through neoliberalism which emphasise workfare over welfare and responsibilities over rights. A key critique of such contexts is that the focus moves from addressing barriers to participation to framing social inclusion predominantly as related to expectations of ‘activation’ and sometimes, assimilation. Key target groups for discourses of activation include young people not in education, employment or training (‘NEET’), while in- and exclusion of migrant and ethnic minority young people are often framed within the complex and contradictory interplay between discourses of assimilation and experiences of discrimination. These developments influence the field of adult education aimed at young people vulnerable to social exclusion. An alternative discourse to ‘activation’ is the promotion of young people’s skills and capabilities that enables them to engage in forms of citizenship activism, challenging structural barriers that lead to exclusion. Our chapter considers selected examples from EduMAP research in the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland which indicate that as well as framing the participation of young people as discourses of ‘activation’, adult education can also enable and facilitate skills related to more activist forms of citizenship participation.

Thinking about Religious Welfare and Rethinking Social Policy in the British Context

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Ways Of Being

The role of religion in social welfare provision, and more broadly in shaping the development of state social policy in the UK, has become an issue of increasing prominence in the last decade raising both new challenges and opportunities. This article brings together new and existing research in the field of religion and social action/welfare in the British context to present a preliminary discussion of how and why religion, as a source of social identity and moral values, matters for social policy. The key argument is that religious welfare provision goes beyond the mixed economy of welfare paradigm and has the capacity to challenge the Utilitarian underpinnings of mainstream social policy thinking by giving more relative importance to ethical issues such as self-knowledge and morality, in addition to the more conventional concepts of wellbeing or happiness. The article proposes the concept of ways of being in order to bring together these moral ideational factors that underpin social welfare.

Young People’s Embodiment of Physical Activity: The Role of the ‘Pedagogized’ Family

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Symeon Dagkas ◽  
Thomas Quarmby
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Young Adolescents ◽  
The Family ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
The Uk

Drawing from Bourdieu, this study investigated the multifaceted influences that operate in and through combinations of family and social class with regard to the embodiment of physical activity in young adolescents in the UK. The findings suggest that pedagogical practices within the family environment are crucial to the development of embodied dispositions toward physical activity and health. The results illustrate that the family operates as a “pedagogical” field where personal histories and prevailing social circumstances exert a strong influence on children’s embodied physicalities.

Assembling and deconstructing radicalisation in PREVENT: A case of policy-based evidence making?

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabe Mythen ◽  
Sandra Walklate ◽  
Elizabeth-Jane Peatfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Religious Ideology ◽  
Important Material ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Way

In the last 15 years the concept of radicalisation has come to prominence as a means of explaining the process by which individuals become attracted to extremist ideology and endorse the actions of terrorist groups. Post 9/11, radicalisation has gained traction in policy, political and media circles in Britain, being commonly connected to the threat of ‘home-grown’ terrorism. In this article, we critique the understanding of radicalisation outlined in the UK Government’s PREVENT strategy. We focus specifically on how particular understandings of radicalisation are constructed, evidenced and operationalised in PREVENT and the way in which these understandings align with party political worldviews. It is posited that an unremitting focus on the role of religious ideology in the process of radicalisation within PREVENT mutes recognition of otherwise important material grievances expressed by individuals involved in violent extremism. At a broader level, our analysis adds to growing concerns around the deleterious impacts of the securitisation of social policy.

scholarly journals Parent Abuse: Opening Up a Discussion of a Complex Instance of Family Power Relations

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Tew ◽  
Judy Nixon
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Family Violence ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Parent Abuse ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
The Way

In the UK, the issue of parent abuse remains an unacknowledged and under-researched form of family violence receiving little recognition within social policy and professional practice. This may in part be due to the way it transgresses conventional notions of family power relations in which children are seen as potential victims but not as perpetrators. In this paper, we develop a framework for analysing the complexity of family power relations and explore how these may inform the context in which parent abuse and victimisation occurs. This may help to inform constructive policy and practice responses to this issue.

Compassion in Contemporary Social Policy: Applications of Virtue Theory

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARY ELIZABETH COLLINS ◽  
KATE COONEY ◽  
SARAH GARLINGTON
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
Virtuous Action ◽  
Environment Policy ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Social

AbstractCurrent academic debate in the social sciences and humanities is revisiting the role of virtue in civic life. This debate is relevant to social policy. We argue that virtue is already an implicit component of policy debates, but that the virtue of compassion has not received sufficient emphasis. To support our argument we review classical and contemporary arguments regarding virtue and its linkage to the ‘good society’; articulate the necessity of compassion and its application to specific policies areas (e.g., domestic violence, welfare, emergency care); and assess how compassion intersects with other virtues in the policy environment. Policy implications are identified including: recognition of the realities of suffering, the need for sufficient administrative infrastructure and trained professionals and an often long-term commitment to work in community settings. Weighing the risks, and the overall challenges of virtuous action, our analysis suggests compassion remains a compelling, yet under-utilised, basis for constructing and implementing policies.

SOCIJALNA ZAŠTITA KAO DEO FORMALNE DRUŠTVENE REAKCIJE NA KRIMINALITET MALOLETNIKA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snežana Soković ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Juvenile Delinquency ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Response ◽  
Juvenile Criminality ◽  
Prevention And Treatment

Social work and crime prevention are synergistically linked: crime prevention and treatment of offenders are an integral part of social policy, and solving social problems is a strong factor in crime prevention, which is why social work presents an important segment of the formal social response to crime. Social protection institutions have a particularly important role in combating juvenile delinquency. The paper analyzes the place and role of social work and social protection services in the formal reaction of society to juvenile criminality in the context of contemporary criminological knowledge about the etiology of juvenile delinquency. The situation, problems and perspectives of social work in the function of prevention of juvenile criminality in Serbia are especially analyzed.

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