Welfare reform
Encyclopedia
Welfare reform refers to the process of reforming the framework of social security
and welfare
provisions, but what is considered reform is a matter of opinion. The term was used in the United States to support the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. The notion of 'reform' often denotes the retrenchment of welfare provisions.
, the National Health Service, the Social Services program, and the Pensions Service program all play a part in the providing social welfare.
The three branches of welfare
The National Health Service provides a system of government supplied health care. The agency employs over two million doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other health care workers to achieve this end. It has at its disposal a budget of over £ 60 billion. The National Health Service is the primary implementation mechanism of Department of Health policy. Welfare administration dealing with Social Services, a major branch of welfare, also fall under NHS jurisdiction.
Welfare in Great Britain also consists of a Social Security program that is admission Service, and also it provides financial aid to individuals and families that qualify. It also promotes what it calls an "equality scheme".
The Movement for Reform
The recent actions taken towards reforming the welfare system in Britain begin with 1997's New Deal Program. The Labour Party
focused on increasing employment through requiring that recipients of aid actively consider seeking employment. This movement is similar in ideal to a workfare
system. The Labour Party also introduced a system of tax credits for low-income workers.
The most recent act on welfare reform in Great Britain is the Welfare Act of 2007. The act provides for "an employment and support allowance, a contributory allowance, [and] an income-based allowance."
is based upon a system of social insurance, family allowances, and pensions. A social security program is maintained where workers and employers pay into a fund that the worker can draw from when they become unable to continue working. Contributions are earnings based and both groups, employers and workers, are involved in maintaining the situation. The program's budget is not actually part of the official state budget of France. However, the French government is still crucial in that it regulates the program. Its specific authority in the area is still unclear.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, a deficit in the program began to appear. The deficit saw peaks at 27.75% of the social insurance budget in 1992. This led to a major push by the government to cut back spending in the welfare program. By the end of the 1990s the deficit had been almost completely eradicated. The often large deficits that the program has endured has led to a tremendous amount of opposition to the program as it stands.
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
and welfare
Welfare
Welfare refers to a broad discourse which may hold certain implications regarding the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens without the stigma of charity. This is termed "social solidarity"...
provisions, but what is considered reform is a matter of opinion. The term was used in the United States to support the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. The notion of 'reform' often denotes the retrenchment of welfare provisions.
United Kingdom
Social welfare is administered in three ways in United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the National Health Service, the Social Services program, and the Pensions Service program all play a part in the providing social welfare.
The three branches of welfare
The National Health Service provides a system of government supplied health care. The agency employs over two million doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other health care workers to achieve this end. It has at its disposal a budget of over £ 60 billion. The National Health Service is the primary implementation mechanism of Department of Health policy. Welfare administration dealing with Social Services, a major branch of welfare, also fall under NHS jurisdiction.
Welfare in Great Britain also consists of a Social Security program that is admission Service, and also it provides financial aid to individuals and families that qualify. It also promotes what it calls an "equality scheme".
The Movement for Reform
The recent actions taken towards reforming the welfare system in Britain begin with 1997's New Deal Program. The Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
focused on increasing employment through requiring that recipients of aid actively consider seeking employment. This movement is similar in ideal to a workfare
Workfare
Workfare is an alternative model to conventional social welfare systems. The term was first introduced by civil rights leader James Charles Evers in 1968; however, it was popularized by Richard Nixon in a televised speech August 1969...
system. The Labour Party also introduced a system of tax credits for low-income workers.
The most recent act on welfare reform in Great Britain is the Welfare Act of 2007. The act provides for "an employment and support allowance, a contributory allowance, [and] an income-based allowance."
France
The welfare system in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
is based upon a system of social insurance, family allowances, and pensions. A social security program is maintained where workers and employers pay into a fund that the worker can draw from when they become unable to continue working. Contributions are earnings based and both groups, employers and workers, are involved in maintaining the situation. The program's budget is not actually part of the official state budget of France. However, the French government is still crucial in that it regulates the program. Its specific authority in the area is still unclear.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, a deficit in the program began to appear. The deficit saw peaks at 27.75% of the social insurance budget in 1992. This led to a major push by the government to cut back spending in the welfare program. By the end of the 1990s the deficit had been almost completely eradicated. The often large deficits that the program has endured has led to a tremendous amount of opposition to the program as it stands.
Reform in Great Britain
Reform in the US
- Welfare and Welfare Reform from UCB Libraries GovPubs
- Welfare Reform: Interim Final Regulations from the U.S. HHS
- The Contract with America from the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
- Welfare Reform: Bringing Dignity to Millions (But Not to Bill Clinton) from the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, 1999
- Welfare Reform, Phase Two City Journal, Winter 2009
- Storming Caesar's Palace, 1971 demonstration and community organizing by Las Vegas welfare mothers
Lessons from around the globe
- http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=976586Arno Tausch (2005) ‚World Bank Pension reforms and development patterns in the world system and in the “Wider Europe”. A 109-country investigation based on 33 (hey chum) indicators of economic growth, and human, social and ecological well-being, and a European regional case study’. A slightly re-worked version of a paper, originally presented to the Conference on “Reforming European pension systems. In memory of Professor Franco Modigliani. 24 and 25 September 2004”, Castle of Schengen, Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies]