bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit 2003-08: a critical analysis
Authors: Godwin Michael , Lawson Colin
Published: September 2022

This article examines the policy, administrative and compliance issues that have arisen with the UK Working Tax Credit (WTC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). It provides a critical commentary on overpayments; underpayments; error and fraud; take-up; and employer compliance costs. From a social policy perspective, these problems have damaged the effectiveness of tax credits, and from public policy and public finance viewpoints, they have damaged the reputation of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury. There is a strong case for a re-examination of the programme and its administration, to see if realistic reforms could deliver a more effective system.
Research Round-Up
Authors: Rowlingson Karen
Published: September 2022

In this issue’s Research Round-up we follow on from the last issue’s theme of ‘race’ and racism. We begin with a piece from Tracey Warren and Nadia Joanne Britton on the importance of incorporating income and asset levels when addressing ethnic economic disadvantage. We then look at community care in relation to black and minority ethnic carers before moving on to a report on disabled refugees in Britain. The next two reports consider particular groups: asylum seekers and refugees, and young Turkish-speaking people. Our focus then leaves issues relating to ethnicity and we have details on two new research reports from the Department for Work and Pensions, the first on Working Families’ Tax Credit and the second on experiences of ONE. The final piece from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation is a review of in-work support in light of government plans to create two new tax credits: Integrated Child Credit and the Employment Tax Credit.
Social justice in a devolved Wales
Authors: Drakeford Mark
Published: September 2022

This article aims to provide an insider’s account of post-devolution policy making in Wales. It focuses on the work of the Welsh Assembly Government in the field of social justice and argues that a set of distinctive and internally coherent principles can be seen in operation across the responsibilities which the Assembly discharges. These include a belief in the usefulness of government, a commitment to progressive universalism, a preference for cooperation rather than competition as a means of improving standards of public services, and the pursuit of equality of outcome, rather than simply opportunity. The article concludes that these principles reflect the underlying preferences of Welsh voters, as expressed in the political make-up of the devolved Assembly.
Official Business
Authors: Lister Ruth
Published: September 2022

Official Business aims to keep readers up to date with reports from government, parliamentary and other official bodies. It provides summaries of new White Papers, Command Papers, Select Committee reports and other government and official material concerning social security, poverty and other related matters. This edition of Official Business covers:

Poverty and social exclusion

Social security and pensions

Treasury and Inland Revenue matters

Asylum
Difficult appeals
Authors: Hill Patrick
Published: September 2022

Social security appeal tribunals are set to be at the heart of reforms affecting most types of appeals from April 2006. This article takes a hard look at tribunals, chairs and members in a region of the UK, identifying some problems, while also appreciating good and best practice in many other cases. It suggests that there is no room for complacency about the way tribunals work in practice. The article also looks at the role of representatives and wider issues in a time of major change.
Research Round-Up
Authors: Rowlingson Karen
Published: September 2022

As usual, this issue’s Research Round-up includes a wide variety of benefitsrelated issues: from the experience of people who are refused Community Care Grants to the experiences of young men who are familiar with longterm unemployment; and from using participatory approaches in research on poverty to whether or not people are choosing to invest in property for their retirement rather than pensions.
Asylum in crisis: after the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act
Authors: Clark Colin
Published: September 2022

In the last 12 months there has been close examination of the ‘asylum crisis’ by a range of interested parties, from government and NGOs to the tabloid press and the British public. As well as the ‘numbers issue’ and questions about routes of access into Britain, the very nature and purpose of the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act has been called to account, particularly regarding policies on dispersal and vouchers. How are these debates being framed, what is the human cost and the best way forward?
Report Back
Authors: Mckenna Dave
Published: September 2022

Report Back provides news, views and reports from local government and the voluntary and community sectors. These reports are related, whenever possible, to the special theme of each issue of Benefits, but the most important consideration is their topicality and relevance to as wide an audience in these fields as possible. Benefits may commission pieces for particular themes but individual contributions are welcomed from those working in these areas and should be sent to the Editorial Office. These contributions might focus on either local government or the voluntary and community sectors, or on relationships between the two.
Rhetoric and retrenchment: ‘common sense’ welfare reform in Ontario
Authors: Herd Dean
Published: September 2022

The adoption of the Canadian Health and Social Transfer (CHST) in 1995 signified a dramatic change in the philosophy and practice of welfare in Canada, creating the space for provincial workfare experiments. This article explores the operation of one such experiment – Ontario Works (OW) – which has been hailed as a success in the face of dramatic caseload declines. Rather than a successful welfare to work strategy, however, closer analysis suggests that these reductions owe more to the concrete regulatory functions of workfare – reducing welfare services and tightening eligibility requirements – in the context of a favourable local economy. Reform in Ontario, therefore, exposes a number of wider issues arising out of the ongoing welfare–workfare transition; namely, the increasing micro-regulation of poor people’s lives, the rise of local experiments and the impact of increased policy transfer and learning.
Council Tax: who benefits?
Authors: Orton Michael
Published: September 2022

This article takes as its starting point the local government White Paper of December 2001 in which the government expressed its willingness to listen to views about Council Tax. The role of Council Tax Benefit is considered, but is located within the context of the underlying structure of the Council Tax scheme. It is argued that the principal issue that should be debated is the extent to which Council Tax itself favours the rich over the poor.
Killing us softly with their words? Retirement pensions and New Labour
Authors: Mann Kirk
Published: September 2022

This brief article argues that New Labour has relied on means testing to raise current pensioner incomes, but their main goal has been to change the balance of pension responsibilities in the future. Neither objective has succeeded. Despite New Labour’s incessant use of a language of choice there is a real possibility that some of the poorest individuals will be compelled to save in private (defined contribution) schemes, or that their retirement age will be raised, or both. The needs of carers have been inadequately addressed while successive governments have presided over the decline of good employer (defined benefit) pension schemes. There is a need for a fundamental rethink of pension policy that recognises the limits to personal pension saving for the poorest 20%-40% of the population. This in turn will demand a more robust attitude to employers and private providers, along with a commitment to meeting the needs of current pensioners.
All change for asylum support policy, but will it be any more humane and fair?
Authors: Patel Bharti
Published: September 2022

The article outlines some proposed changes to asylum policy, including reception centres, smart cards and induction centres, and looks at the thinking behind these proposals. It also examines whether a balance has been struck between effective asylum policy and fairness and humanity towards asylum-seekers.
Equality and human rights: siblings or just rivals?
Authors: Phillips Trevor
Published: September 2022

This article is based on a speech given at the Social Justice and Public Policy conference on 6 December 2006 in London. The author was until recently Chair of the Commission of Racial Equality and has now been appointed as Chair of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights in Britain. The article sets out his views on the relationship between equality and human rights. It argues that choices need to be made in politics and public policy in managing tensions between diverse individuals and groups, and that these choices should be guided by consistent principles rather than made on an ad hoc basis. These issues are likely to become more, rather than less, significant through the 21st century.
Simplification, modernisation and social security
Authors: Millar Jane
Published: September 2022

The topic of benefit simplification regularly returns to the policy agenda. A simpler system, easy to understand and to deliver, is a goal that everyone wants to reach. Simplification is both a political and an administrative issue and, although these two issues cannot be entirely separated, this article focuses on the administrative side. The first section discusses how the government’s commitment to modernisation has, in various ways, focused attention on the need for simplification of benefits. The second section considers simplification from the three rather different perspectives of the DWP, the claimants of benefits and the public in general.
Health inequality: an intractable problem
Authors: Rathfelder Martin
Published: September 2022

Health inequality is an intractable problem, and has been increased by urbanisation. Average life expectancy has risen steadily for 160 years, but the increase is greater amongst the rich. Advances in engineering benefited all social classes, but changes in lifestyle seem to leave the poor behind. Health inequality – the existence of which was denied only 25 years ago – is now seen as a problem by all political parties in the UK. Various measures in healthcare and in lifestyle which might reduce the problem are considered.
Research Round-Up
Authors: Rowlingson Karen
Published: September 2022

Policy research is often concerned with quite ‘immediate’ problems such as whether a particular policy is working well or not. Such research often incorporates the definitions used by policy makers but Deborah Mabbett’s research is of a more fundamental nature. She takes a critical look at how disability categories are established in different European countries. The second piece also concerns a very broad issue – the effect of devolution on social security policy. It concentrates on Housing Benefit to discuss the tensions arising from the current division of responsibilities in relation to housing policy.

The government set a deadline of 2004 to reduce the number of children in low-paid households by a quarter compared with 1998/99. This date is fast approaching and research highlighted here by the New Policy Institute suggests that the government still has a long way to go to achieve this. Having said that, the trend is in the right direction with some recent progress on reducing income poverty.

Is self-employment a good way to escape poverty? Research, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, reviews the evidence on self-employment as a route off benefits and concludes that we must be cautious with our conclusions as there is a lack of evidence on this subject. There is some evidence, however, to suggest that self-employment is a very precarious activity for many people.

And finally, another study funded by the Department for Work and Pensions measured public attitudes to e-government. The findings suggest that the majority of people still rely on traditional methods for getting in touch with government but that there is some interest in using the Internet in the future.
The road to sustained employment: lessons from a US job retention initiative
Authors: Rangarajan Anu
Published: September 2022

As welfare policies in the US, the UK, and other western European countries shift to moving people from welfare to work, strategies to promote job retention and advancement become more critical. The Post-Employment Services Demonstration was a US experiment to test a case management-based approach to promoting job retention, and was evaluated using a rigorous experimental design. The evaluation findings show that, although the programmes were well implemented, they did little to improve employment outcomes for those served by the programmes. Lessons from the evaluation provide a foundation upon which new programmes can build. The evaluation findings also underscore the importance of rigorously testing the effectiveness of strategies before implementing them on a large scale.
The 1964 Labour government, poverty and social justice
Authors: Tomlinson Jim
Published: September 2022

The reduction of poverty and lessening of inequalities were at the core of Labour’s concerns in the Party manifesto in 1964. In office, pursuit of these goals was constrained by the priority accorded to reversing the alleged ‘decline’ of the economy, the impact of rising public spending on tax thresholds and fundamental problems concerning the mix of universal benefits and means testing. The result was that Labour’s years in office saw a significant rise in spending on social security and some limited reduction in poverty, but also the extension of means testing. No ‘grand design’ for welfare reform emerged in these years.
Delivering on the pledge to eradicate child poverty
Authors: Dornan Paul
Published: September 2022

Of New Labour’s policy agenda, that relating to child poverty is among the most impressive. Here the government recognised a social ill, set out to tackle it and delivered real gains. Yet after that effort we have, on latest available evidence, a child income poverty rate of 28%, double the rate of 1979 (National Statistics, 2005). The timeline of New Labour’s policy on child poverty is divided by a speech given by Tony Blair on 18 March, 1999, when he promised to eradicate child poverty. This bold step caught the cynics off guard and forced poverty into the political mainstream. Yet before that March speech New Labour were timid, sticking to the previous administration’s spending plans, missing an opportunity to get cracking and taking a backward step by cutting the lone parent rate of Income Support. This article assesses policy to deliver the pledge, the impact of measurement change and tensions in those areas whereby more effort is needed.
The Street Wardens Programme as a neighbourhood renewal intervention: the challenge of translating national policy into creative local responses in a performance management context
Authors: Sin Chih Hoong
Published: September 2022

The current government has prioritised tackling urban deprivation as part of its commitment to poverty reduction in the UK. The Street Wardens Programme was established in 2001 to help improve the ‘liveability’ of ‘deprived’ neighbourhoods by: caring for the physical appearance of streets; deterring antisocial behaviour; reducing crime and fear of crime; and fostering social inclusion. ‘Deprivation’ was not explicitly defined in the policy, resulting in schemes located in areas with wildly divergent environmental and demographic characteristics. Programme implementation was, expectedly, diverse. Against a performance management context, outcomes were paradoxically never clearly defined and many were difficult to measure. This poses significant challenges as to how local areas are to implement national policies and demonstrate success.
Research Round-Up
Authors: Rowlingson Karen
Published: September 2022

Very little research is carried out into the views of benefits administrators who play a key role in the delivery of social security benefits. This makes Hartley Dean’s recent research extremely valuable, despite its small sample size. The next research study highlighted here was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and looked at government progress towards eradicating child poverty. It finds that progress is being made but it is slow and more radical measures that will be needed if the interim targets are to be met, let alone the overall goal. The final two studies mentioned here are funded by the Department for Work and Pensions. The first looks at the living standards of families with children and finds considerable reductions in hardship among low-income families between 1999-2001. The analysis also suggests that the more favourable outcomes associated with work and higher income can more clearly account for differences in a range of child characteristics than whether the child is from a one-parent or two-parent household. The last study here covered knowledge and attitudes to pensions, finding little change on overall knowledge of pensions over the last two years but a considerable increase in the proportion of people who had heard of Stakeholder Pensions.
Report Back
Authors: Smith Peter
Published: September 2022

Report Back provides news, views and reports from local government and the voluntary and community sectors. These reports are related, whenever possible, to the special theme of each issue of Benefits, but the most important consideration is their topicality and relevance to as wide an audience in these fields as possible. Benefits may commission pieces for particular themes but individual contributions are welcomed from those working in these areas and should be sent to the Editorial Office. These contributions might focus on either local government or the voluntary and community sectors, or on relationships between the two.
Narrowing pathways to early retirement in the Netherlands
Authors: Oorschot Wim van
Published: September 2022

The early retirement of older workers, and their low labour participation, was not seen as a major problem by the Dutch government during the years of recession in the 1980s and early 1990s. However, with the upswing of the economy and the rapid ageing of the population, the government’s perspective changed drastically and related policy measures were taken. After a general introduction that sketches the shift in the government’s perspective, we give an account of the various pathways to early exit that are used by older workers, and how these have been restricted by policy measures.
Capital poor
Authors: Glennerster Howard
Published: September 2022

Poverty campaigners have devoted too little attention to the fact that most poor people have no assets. Tom Paine (1969) wanted to tax the assets of the wealthy, transferring the proceeds to citizens at the beginning of life. Modern neo-conservatives want to replace the welfare state with a capital grant at birth. This article rejects the latter course on the basis of economic theory and praticability. But it does advocate capitalising welfare and tax benefits in the case of higher education and pensions, as well as extending housing asset ownership.
Official Business
Authors: Lister Ruth
Published: September 2022

Official Business aims to keep readers up to date with reports from government, parliamentary and other official bodies. It provides summaries of new White Papers, Command Papers, Select Committee reports and other government and official material concerning social security, poverty and other related matters. This edition of Official Business covers:

poverty and social exclusion

social security

Select Committee reports
Tax credits: coping with change?
Authors: Griggs Julia , Walker Robert
Published: September 2022

The Labour government’s 2003 tax credit reform served to export the costs of administrative simplicity to tax credit recipients, making them both responsible for reporting changes of circumstances and financially responsible for the consequences of not doing so. This article uses the results of a small-scale telephone survey of lone parents in receipt of tax credits to illustrate how the high volume of changes in claimants’ circumstances undermines the administrative efficiency of the tax credits system and how this can add to the financial stress experienced by certain vulnerable tax credit recipients.
Parliamentary Questions
Authors: Howard Marilyn
Published: September 2022

Parliamentary Questions is a selection of recent written questions from MPs to government ministers in the House of Commons. The answers highlighted in this section focus on social security matters which may be of general interest to readers. Published in daily and weekly editions of Hansard, questions and answers across a range of issues can also now be found online at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/ cmhansrd.htm.
Losing appeal? The changing face of redress
Authors: Dean Hartley
Published: September 2022

This article is, in part, an editorial introduction to the three other articles that will be addressing the commissioned theme of this issue of Benefits, which is concerned with social security appeals and redress. It briefly outlines the context and substance of those articles. In part, however, this article is also an historical and conceptual introduction to the theme as a whole. Although it would seem that impending reforms to the social security appeals system hold out the prospect of a reinvigorated and more independent form of tribunal, this article points to a deeper trend: a trend away from adjudication and appeals and towards forms of redress based on complaints procedures and technical reviews.
A living wage for London?
Authors: Grover Chris
Published: September 2022

Following the 2004 London mayoral election, the successful candidate, Ken Livingstone, set up a Living Wage Unit to produce a figure for a living wage for London and to push for its implementation across a number of London-wide public employers. This article critically examines the way in which the living wage for London has been calculated and the assumptions on which it is premised. The article argues that while the Greater London Authority should be applauded for being the first local authority in Britain to commit itself to a wage premised on a notion of need, it is difficult to consider its suggested wage to be a living wage because of flaws in the way it has been calculated.
For love or money? Couples’ negotiations of credit and debt in low-income families in the UK
Authors: Goode Jackie
Published: September 2022

Building on earlier work on the household economy, and drawing on a longitudinal study funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this article discusses the role of gender dynamics in experiences of credit and debt in low-income families in the UK. Following critiques of traditional sociological and social psychological analyses of the household economy, it takes a more discursive approach, which reveals the significance and ‘playing out’ of gender relations within decision making in this area of practice.
Individualised pension provision: UK experience, US plans
Authors: Waine Barbara
Published: September 2022

This article discusses plans, supported by President George W. Bush, to introduce individualised pension provision as a form of privatisation of social security in the US in the context of the experience of analogous policies in the UK.
Disability: rights, work and security
Authors: Howard Marilyn
Published: September 2022

Disability is a complex and contested issue, often with tensions between policy approaches of ‘benefits’ and ‘rights’, that is, benefits as compensation for exclusion rather than civil rights to enable inclusion (Daniel, 1998). These intersect with different models of disability (medical, social and transactional: Howard, 2003). Traditionally, the medical model has been the ‘moral basis’ for benefits (SSAC, 1997), although increasingly the social model is accepted (Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, 2005). Over eight years of New Labour, disability policy has drawn on several models – often implicitly.
Making work pay?
Authors: Bennett Fran , Millar Jane
Published: September 2022

The growth of wage supplementation through in-work benefits and tax credits has been one of the most fundamental recent developments in the UK social security system. Broad statements of policy aims such as ‘making work pay’ and providing ‘support for work’ are superficially simple and clear. In practice, however, they cover a complex variety of goals and policy instruments. This article outlines the main policy measures introduced since 1997, discusses the different policy goals and highlights some of the major limitations of the current policy approach.
Report Back
Authors: Craig Gary
Published: September 2022

Report Back provides news, views and reports from local government and the voluntary and community sectors. These reports are related, whenever possible, to the special theme of each issue of Benefits, but the most important consideration is their topicality and relevance to as wide an audience in these fields as possible. Benefits may commission pieces for particular themes but individual contributions are welcomed from those working in these areas and should be sent to the Editorial Office. These contributions might focus on either local government or the voluntary and community sectors, or on relationships between the two.
Striving to achieve a good childhood for all
Authors: Reitemeier Bob
Published: September 2022

This paper provides an overview of the aims, methodology and recommendations of The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Inquiry. It calls for a change in attitude towards children and young people and argues that the eradication of financial inequality and age discrimination must be prioritised in current legislation and policy to ensure a good childhood for all children. It challenges public policy makers and practitioners to ‘relationship-proof’ their work to address children’s real concerns, as identified through research.
Creating submissive subjects: lone mothers and social assistance regimes in Canada
Authors: Pollack Shoshana
Published: September 2022

The Lone Mothers: Building Social Inclusion project is a collaboration between researchers at five universities and community organisations in three research sites in Canada. The aim of this five-year longitudinal study is to examine the social assistance and labour market experiences of lone mothers. Drawing on qualitative interviews with lone mothers receiving social assistance in three Canadian provinces, as well as a focus group conducted with workers in the welfare system in Toronto, this article examines how women’s relationship with state policy and workers constructs and enforces a ‘submissive lone mother’ subjectivity and perpetuates neoliberal governance strategies.
Permitted work, ‘passporting’ and Employment and Support Allowance: a fundamental flaw
Authors: Royston Sam , Royston Sue
Published: September 2022

The Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), introduced in October 2008, replaces Incapacity Benefit, and Income Support through illness or disability, for new claimants. This article explores a key problem with the new benefit: changes in the permitted work rules between Income Support and income-related ESA mean that a single person with no other income or savings who has paid National Insurance contributions could be more than £60 per week worse off than someone in a similar position who has not paid contributions. The problem is outlined below, and potential solutions are proposed.
Asylum policy under New Labour
Authors: Bloch Alice , Schuster Liza
Published: September 2022

This article examines New Labour policies on asylum with a focus on changes in welfare provision. The changes that have taken place have resulted in the exclusion of asylum seekers from ‘mainstream’ provision and have led to an increase in poverty and destitution among some asylum seekers.
Ten best practices, eight social rights: creating social justice for children and families standards and benchmarks for Social Justice Community Action Plans (SJCAPs)
Authors: McLaughlin Eithne , Monteith Marina
Published: September 2022

This article uses a number of the outcomes of the United Nations Decade for the Elimination of Poverty (1997-2006) to make the case for the development of Social Justice Community Action Plans by national and subnational public authorities. SJCAPs would encompass the promotion of equality and equity, the reduction of poverty, the reduction of non-economic inequalities, the eradication of discrimination in all its forms and the enjoyment of all fundamental human rights and freedoms by all citizens. The article provides 10 practices or benchmarks with which to guide and/or evaluate such planning processes and the content of plans that may be developed. The article sets out the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights draft guidelines on what constitutes poverty and the eight core social rights which governments should be obligated to ensure are enjoyed by all citizens. The article is intended to contribute constructively to the growing internationalisation of social policy analysis and practice in the UK. Together with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child this has the potential to make a base of social justice for the fifth of children in the UK who have been and are being raised in poverty. Government child poverty targets for 2005 have not been met. The UK’s track record on child poverty and the implications of child poverty remains poor and is inconsistent with the rhetoric of equality of opportunity promoted by New Labour.
Connexions: an outbreak in purple and orange
Authors: Coles Bob
Published: September 2022

Connexions is a new support service for all young people aged 13-19 in England. This article traces the origins of the Connexions Strategy and some of the main principles on which it is based. One of the main factors which brought it about was concern about the number of 16-18 year olds not in any form of education, employment or training. Reducing this is one of the main targets of Connexions although it is intended to be a universal as well as a targeted service. The article examines some of the main challenges being faced and what is distinctive about its approach.
Social justice across the generations
Authors: Willetts David
Published: September 2022

A neglected aspect of social justice is fairness between successive generations. This article argues that the large generation born immediately after World War Two (the ‘baby boomers’) have benefited from a favourable macro-economic environment throughout their lives, while the relatively small generation following them will bear the brunt of paying for the pensions and healthcare of their predecessors. Such extreme differences in the benefits and burdens of different generations over their life cycles may need to be ameliorated in order to avoid a breakdown in the informal intergenerational social contract, which has sustained support for the welfare state over several decades.
Basic bank accounts: financial inclusion at a price?
Authors: Finnegan Sean
Published: September 2022

The Department for Work and Pensions has stressed its aim to increase financial inclusion by making bank accounts accessible to all, and estimates that 2.5 million people will gain access to banking services. Benefit claimants have already started to receive a copy of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) leaflet ‘No bank account’ with renewal claim packs, and details are provided of 13 major banks that are offering basic accounts (for an up-to-date list, see www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer). Furthermore, a dozen main high street banks and building societies last year signed contracts with the Post Office to provide access to basic bank accounts at local Post Office branches from April 2003 (DWP Press Release, 11 October 2002).
Report Back
Authors: Edwards Eileen
Published: September 2022

Report Back provides news, views and reports from local government and the voluntary and community sectors. These reports are related, whenever possible, to the special theme of each issue of Benefits, but the most important consideration is their topicality and relevance to as wide an audience in these fields as possible. Benefits may commission pieces for particular themes but individual contributions are welcomed from those working in these areas and should be sent to the Editorial Office. These contributions might focus on either local government or the voluntary and community sectors, or on relationships between the two.
Ethnic variations in income and income type
Authors: Allgar Victoria L. , Paul Sheila
Published: September 2022

Studies on minority ethnic groups and health often use conventional measures of socioeconomic position such as car ownership and housing tenure. We know that minority ethnic groups are over-represented in lower socioeconomic groups and that unemployment rates, patterns of employment and working conditions are more unfavourable for some minority ethnic groups than the majority ethnic group. We have shown elsewhere that financial factors are important predictors of health alongside other indicators of socioeconomic position but are there differences in income type and benefits received by ethnic group? This article reports selected findings from a broader study investigating the relationships between ethnicity, socioeconomic position and health. It aims to examine differences in income type by ethnic group and to examine overall household income by ethnic group.
Functionings and child wellbeing: unexplained variations across England, Scotland and Wales
Authors: Pedace Lucas
Published: September 2022

This article compares the wellbeing of children across England, Scotland and Wales, employing the concept of functionings developed in Sen's capability approach. Children's wellbeing is assessed in 10 different dimensions. The results from this exercise show that, although England presents the highest child poverty rate, the outcomes of English children do not lag behind those of their Welsh and Scottish peers. The reasons for this are not clear. However, this finding suggests that conclusions from those studies using income as the only proxy for children's wellbeing should be interpreted cautiously.
Why have disability categories in social security?
Authors: Mabbett Deborah
Published: September 2022

The specification of categories (for example, unemployment, old age, disability) is a well-established feature of social security. However, disability categories are problematic: the evidence on which decisions have to be made is complex, and understandings of the nature of disability are highly contested. Disability categories could be reformed by unification with other categories used in the same policy area (for example, unemployment) or by fragmentation into new, smaller categories, particularly through the use of casework.
Socioeconomic inequalities in health: evidence on patterns and determinants
Authors: Graham Hilary
Published: September 2022

People in advantaged positions enjoy better health over longer lives than those in poorer circumstances. Focusing on the UK, Hilary Graham reviews how these health inequalities have persisted over the centuries, across people’s lifetimes and despite changes in major causes of death. She discusses the social determinants of socioeconomic inequalities in health, presenting a simple framework through which to understand how social inequality exerts its influence on individual health.
Families with disabled children, benefits and poverty
Authors: Preston Gabrielle
Published: September 2022

Families with disabled children are susceptible to poverty because low income is compounded by high costs. Combining caring with employment is extremely difficult, so families are heavily reliant on benefits. But do disability benefits provide financial security for families who are susceptible to high levels of poverty and social exclusion? This article outlines the findings of a qualitative study: Helter skelter: Families, disabled children and the benefit system (Preston, 2005). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 20 families, each of whom had a disabled child who had recently been awarded Disability Living Allowance (DLA), it investigates the impact this additional income has had on their lives.
Promoting sustainable livelihoods: making welfare reform truly personal
Authors: Cooper Niall
Published: September 2022

Gordon Brown has high and admirable aspirations for welfare reform. In his foreword to the recent Green Paper No-one written off he states these as being ‘delivering personalised services tailored to individual needs, giving more freedom to frontline professionals and increasing people’s control over the services and support they choose to access’ (DWP, 2008, p 5). For such policies to be successful, it is essential to understand people’s own strategies and aspirations, the assets they bring and the barriers they experience to achieving and sustaining work. This article is based on in-depth research carried out by Church Action on Poverty’s ‘Thrive’ project and Oxfam with households experiencing long-term poverty in the North East of England since 2006, using an internationally recognised sustainable livelihoods approach.
Housing Benefit sanctions for anti-social behaviour
Authors: Lister Sam
Published: September 2022

In May 2003 the government published its consultation paper on Housing Benefit sanctions for anti-social behaviour (DWP, 2003). The proposals develop an idea first floated in the Housing Green Paper (DETR, 2000a). In 2002 Frank Field MP introduced a private member’s Bill to withdraw Housing Benefit from claimants engaged in persistent anti-social behaviour. The Bill was supported by the government, subject to the penalty being modelled on jobseekers’ sanctions (Wicks, 2002a).

In January 2004 the government reluctantly backed down on its plans to use Housing Benefit sanctions to punish anti-social behaviour. Three quarters of respondents to a consultation were opposed to them, mainly on principle, but many also argued that the sanctions would be “unworkable, ineffective and counter-productive” (DWP, 2004, p 3). While respondents supported the need to tackle anti-social behaviour, “many were concerned that these proposals did not tackle the root causes and that early intervention across a range of services would be more effective” (DWP, 2004, p3).

This article examines the arguments in support of Housing Benefit sanctions and the government’s motives for proposing them. Although now withdrawn, it is worth exploring why the government originally proposed them, not least because they resonate with New Labour’s ‘rights and responsibilities’ discourse. Housing Benefit sanctions can be seen as part of a wider government agenda to develop policy based on a “{welfare} contract between the citizen and the Government” (DSS, 1998, p 80).
Report Back
Authors: Vipinachandran Salila
Published: September 2022

Report Back provides news, views and reports from local government and the voluntary and community sectors. These reports are related, whenever possible, to the special theme of each issue of Benefits, but the most important consideration is their topicality and relevance to as wide an audience in these fields as possible. Benefits may commission pieces for particular themes but individual contributions are welcomed from those working in these areas and should be sent to the Editorial Office. These contributions might focus on either local government or the voluntary and community sectors, or on relationships between the two.
Localising the campaign against child poverty
Authors: Dornan Paul
Published: September 2022

Recent changes in the governance regime for English local authorities mean that they can choose tackling child poverty as a key indicator of their success. One in three has done so, with others having chosen related indicators. Although many of the levers required to meet the national objective of eradicating child poverty lie at the UK level, local authorities have a key role in helping to ensure that services are effective in targeting poverty. This article introduces the Child Poverty Toolkit website and explores what localising the national child poverty target may mean.
Discourses of resistance and the ‘hostile jobseeker’
Authors: Rogers Ruth
Published: September 2022

There are a large number of Internet-based groups and organisations aimed specifically at resisting the compulsory elements of the Jobseeker’s Allowance and New Deal. However, although large in number, this article argues that these groups tend to be exclusively directed at the working-class male, in that they openly celebrate manual labour over mental labour and are highly hostile and aggressive in content. Consequently, women remain largely excluded from the organised discourses of resistance.
Poverty, social justice and the Labour government, 1997-2007
Authors: Driver Stephen
Published: September 2022

This article explores Labour’s record on poverty and social justice since 1997. Poverty rates have fallen, but not for everyone on low incomes. And while fiscal policy has introduced a greater egalitarianism into public policy, British society remains as divided by income as it was when Labour took office. Critics continue to argue that more must be done to narrow the gap between rich and poor in the name of social justice. But the government’s record reflects the balance of priorities between a market-led strategy for growth and welfare policies for social justice in New Labour’s post-Thatcherite social democratic politics.
How can deprivation indicators help us to understand poverty?
Authors: Berthoud Richard
Published: September 2022

This article challenges the growing orthodoxy among analysts and makers of social policy that an index of material deprivation should be preferred to low income as a measure of poverty. Such scales are nevertheless invaluable as indicators of living standards, and can be used to improve our understanding of social exclusion, and the role of low income in that process. Income and deprivation data from seven waves of the British Household Panel Survey are used to show that poverty may be less common, but also more severe, more stable and more intransigent, than standard annual income tables indicate. These lessons are applied to a discussion of the government’s plan to introduce a deprivation index into its suite of child poverty measures.
Labour’s reforms of social security provision for families: the implications for children
Authors: Ridge Tess
Published: September 2022

Labour’s commitment to eradicate child poverty and increase support for children and their families has led to a renewed appreciation of the role of social security in children’s lives. Central to Labour’s welfare reform agenda has been a fundamental change in the organisation and delivery of fiscal support for children. This article takes a child-centred look at these changes and explores in more detail three key areas which reflect some of the ongoing tensions inherent in providing state support for children: Child Tax Credits, Education Maintenance Allowances, and Child Support. It explores how changes in welfare provision have resulted in new forms of fiscal support for children and greater redistribution of resources to children and their families. It also highlights concerns about the future quality of children’s welfare citizenship as more children are drawn into means-tested provision.
Older changing claims
Authors: Patterson Terry
Published: September 2022

This article considers Pension Service access strategy and ‘the personal touch’, against the spectre of 1984. It builds on an article ‘Changing claims?’ (Patterson, 2003, pp 203-6), which considered claim forms, teleclaims and backroom use of information and communication technology (ICT) links.
Parliamentary Questions
Authors: Bennett Fran
Published: September 2022

Parliamentary Questions is a selection of recent written questions from MPs to government ministers in the House of Commons. The answers from ministers highlighted in this section focus on social security matters which may be of general interest to readers. Published in daily and weekly editions of Hansard, questions and answers across a range of issues can also now be found online at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm.

In addition to written parliamentary questions, Hansard also covers Oral Answers from the ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions on a regular basis. In recent months, ministers have also started making written ministerial statements on occasions. These are printed just before the written answers in Hansard, and often cover announcements of substantive policy changes or the publication of reports etc.

Because of the availability of parliamentary answers on the website, only a few significant answers will be reproduced in full in Benefits from now on. Other important answers will be listed, in chronological date order within each topic. (Please note that this will not be a complete list of parliamentary answers on social security benefits, but only those which the contributor thinks fairly important.) The answers below start from January 2003, and cover January and most of February. There are unfortunately none from November or December 2002, due to the changeover of contributor for Parliamentary Questions from Marilyn Howard to Fran Bennett.
Data Gap in Sacral Neuromodulation Documentation: Call to Improve Documentation Protocols
Authors: Hornung Christopher M. , Vasdev Ranveer , Hanson Kate A. , Gotlieb Rachael , Fok Cynthia S. , Fischer John , Nakib Nissrine A. , Nelson Dwight E.
Published: September 2022

Purpose: We quantified patient record documentation of sacral neuromodulation (SNM) threshold testing and programming parameters at our institution to identify opportunities to improve therapy outcomes and future SNM technologies.Methods: A retrospective review was conducted using 127 records from 40 SNM patients. Records were screened for SNM documentation including qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative covered indirect references to threshold testing and the quantitative included efficacy descriptions and device programming used by the patient. Findings were categorized by visit type: percutaneous nerve evaluation (PNE), stage 1 (S1), permanent lead implantation, stage 2 (S2) permanent impulse generator implantation, device-related follow-up, or surgical removal.Results: Documentation of threshold testing was more complete during initial implant visits (PNE and S1), less complete for S2 visits, and infrequent for follow-up clinical visits. Surgical motor thresholds were most often referred to using only qualitative comments such as “good response” (88%, 100% for PNE, S1) and less commonly included quantitative values (68%, 84%), locations of response (84%, 83%) or specific contacts used for testing (0%). S2 motor thresholds were less well documented with qualitative, quantitative, and anatomical location outcomes at 70%, 48%, and 36% respectively. Surgical notes did not include specific stimulation parameters or contacts used for tests. Postoperative sensory tests were often only qualitative (80%, 67% for PNE, S1) with quantitative values documented much less frequently (39%, 9%) and typically lacked sensory locations or electrode-specific results. For follow-up visits, <10% included quantitative sensory test outcomes. Few records (<7%) included device program settings recommended for therapy delivery and none included therapy-use logs.Conclusions: While evidence suggests contact and parameter-specific programming can improve SNM therapy outcomes, there is a major gap in the documentation of this data. More detailed testing and documentation could improve therapeutic options for parameter titration and provide design inputs for future technologies.