Family Policy UK Flashcards
What citation would you use when discussing moral underclass discourse? And how was it used in policy?
Levitas (2006)
Thatcher used this to justify cuts to welfare, e.g., the cuts to the Housing Act 1996 that made it difficult for lone mothers to get social housing.
Underlysing in New Labour and ramped up in Conservative policy
What did the WFTC do?
Brewer et al. (2005) found it increased lone mother’s employment by approx 5%
However, it was conditional. To receive it, at least one family member had to be employed.
What did the Two-child limit do?
CPAG (2024) said 50,000 children yearly experience child poverty due to the Two-child limit
Resolution foundation (2024) said removing the limit would lift 490,000 children out of poverty
Who used the term ‘creeping conditionality’ when discussing New Labour’s policy?
Dwyer, 2004
What policy highlights New Labour’s conditionality?
WFTC - had to have one family member in employment
Shows that they focus a lot on employment
What policy highlights the Conservative’s conditionality? give the citation
Universal Credit
(Millar and Bennet, 2017) UC combined six benefit and tax schemes into one monthly payment, paid only to a single claimant in the household. The aim was to simplify the system and make receiving benefits close to being in employment through the increased emphasis on adhering to a contract – involving the requirement to be in employment or be actively looking for employment- and the use of a direct monthly payment to simulate the payment schemes of employment, with sanctions being implemented if these requirements are not met
What impacts did UC have?
Jitendra et al. (2018) found that only 8% of UC claimants could cover their basic needs
Millar and Bennet (2017) found that the move to monthly payments impacted families’ budgeting and had disproportionately negative effects on women as they often managed the budget but did not receive the payments
How did New Labour increase childcare?
1998 National Childcare Strategy
Increased childcare provisions by creating free part-time places in nursery for all 4 year old in the UK , this was later increased to included disadvantaged 2 year olds.
Aimed to improve childhood development but also facilitate employment
How did the NCS impact people?
Nuffield Foundation (2012) found that the NCS increased the use of both formal and informal childcare
Grover (2005) found it improved employment in lone mothers
How did the Conservatives increase childcare and what were the impacts?
They helped with costs by introducing a tax-free childcare scheme and increasing the number of funded childcare hours to 30—however, only for employed parents.
However, cuts created a crisis and the cost was still very high.
Theirworld (2023) found 1 in 4 parents in the UK leave education or quit work due to high childcare costs
How did the Conservative increase parental leave?
They introduced Shared Parental Leave in 2015 - can transfer up to 50 weeks of leave to another parent (mother has to take first 2 weeks)
What impacts did Shared Parental Leave have?
Associated with more equal divisions of housework.
Allows mothers to go back to work, increasing their income and reducing gender pay gap.
However, Clifton-sprig et al 2024 found that only 2-4% of eligible fathers used SPL in the first 4 years of its implementation
What has the most recent labour government said about childcare?
They have made claims to expand the availability of funded hours of childcare to families with children from 9 months old, along with claims of opening thousands of nurseries.
However, there is still a crisis in funding and staffing
