The social security system of Great Britain has reached a
crossroads, following the election of a Labour Government promising
a 'New Age' of welfare and seemingly prepared to 'think the
unthinkable' on welfare reform, at a time when public expenditure
on welfare benefits has reached nearly GBP100 billion per annum. In
1985 the Conservative's Green Paper on social security reform
announced that the benefits system had 'lost its way'. Attempts
were made to curb benefits expenditure and reduce welfare
dependency, for example through better 'targeting' of needs, the
reinforcement of personal and family responsibility, and tighter
administrative controls. The ten years from 1988 to 1998 saw the
introduction of many new benefit schemes including income support,
family credit, the social fund, disability living allowance,
incapacity benefit, and jobseeker's allowance as well as the
increasing influence of European Law. Yet the system 'achieves too
little' according to the new Government's Green Paper on welfare
reform, which promises ' a new contract between the citizen and the
Government, based on responsibilities and rights'. The precise form
these responsibilities and rights will take remains unknown,
although we already have schemes like the New Deal and proposals
for stakeholder pensions. Meanwhile, social security law continues
to impact upon the lives of millions of citizens. After ten years
of major legislative change, and with the prospect of a new
direction, this is a time to take stock and to analyse the social
and legal impact of the past decade's legislation, case law, and
policy, as well as considering possible reforms. The book's
approach is to organise this task thematically, particularly with
regard to the social context to social security, through discrete
chapters on, for example, gender and the family, disability,
housing, old age, and unemployment. It is also opportune to examine
the theoretical framework of state welfare and social security,
particularly in the context of social rights. The book aims to
provide an authoritative, contextual and critical account of how
British social security law has evolved, how it operates, its
substance, and its social effects.
General
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