Government Policies Essay Flashcards
Intro
Governments have introduced many policies in an attempt to tackle wealth & health inequalities. It will be argued Universal Credit is a damaging government policy. This essay will also argue the National Living Wage is failing in its aims. Finally, Minimum Unit Pricing has had some early evidence of success
Universal Credit - Point
One government policy introduced to tackle wealth inequality is Universal Credit
Universal Credit - Explain
Universal Credit is a system first introduced by the Conservative Party with the aim of getting people into work by providing a benefit to unemployed people or those on low income once a month
The individualist belief is that if it is low enough then more people will be encouraged to get a job & earn their own way out of poverty
Universal Credit - Example
Since its introduction, the unemployment rate has been at an all time low of 4%
Universal Credit - Analysis
Universal Credit has been successful at helping many people get into work
Universal Credit - Rebuttal Point
However, despite the success of helping citizens get a job the reality is that poverty across the UK is still high
Universal Credit - Rebuttal Explain
Due to the issues of low pay, employment alone is not enough to eradicate poverty
Those on Universal Credit & that are employed are still having to make the difficult decision between paying their rent or feeding their children
Universal Credit - Rebuttal Example
In the past 5 years the use of food banks had increased by 123%
Universal Credit - Rebuttal Analysis
Universal Credit alone is not enough to make sure people stay out of poverty
Universal Credit - Conclusion
Universal Credit has had some success but overall the system needs to change to fully support those in need
National Living Wage - Point
The government’s National Living Wage was introduced to tackle wealth inequalities
National Living Wage - Explain
It was first introduced in 1999 by Labour & it used to be known as the minimum wage
The aim of the National Living Wage is to tackle poverty pay by guaranteeing workers a set hourly rate of £9.50 for those over 23
National Living Wage - Example
In 2021 the Living Wage Foundation found that those who had benefitted from the NLW were £2,700 better off than if they had been on minimum wage
National Living Wage - Analysis
The National Living Wage plays a vital role in helping people stay out of poverty
National Living Wage - Rebuttal Point
However, the NLW has faced many criticisms & has not been successful in recent years in tackling wealth inequalities
National Living Wage - Rebuttal Explain
Research has found that the NLW is too low to keep many people above the poverty line
The NLW has also not increased with the current inflation rates
National Living Wage - Rebuttal Example
It has been found that the real living wage should be £9.90 which has recently increased to £10.90 due to the cost of living crisis
Many employers choose to pay this as it is more appealing to staff
National Living Wage - Rebuttal Analysis
The NLW is not increasing enough to keep people out of poverty
National Living Wage - Conclusion
The current NLW is not substantial enough & the RLW of £10.50 should become the new NLW
Minimum Unit Pricing - Point
Minimum Unit Pricing was a government policy introduced to tackle health inequalities
Minimum Unit Pricing - Explain
This policy set a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol in a drink
This was to discourage people from buying cheap, high strength alcohol & damaging their health
Minimum Unit Pricing - Example
The BBC have stated a 4% decrease in alcohol sales in Scotland compared to a 3% increase in alcohol sales in England & Wales
Minimum Unit Pricing - Analysis
The fact the policy is not replicated in England & Wales indicates this could be an effective policy in tackling alcohol related health inequalities
Minimum Unit Prices - Rebuttal Point
However, the reality is that this policy is too new to know if it will have a long term impact
Minimum Unit Pricing - Rebuttal Explain
The first figures on its effects were only released in 2020 so it’s still too early to tell
Alcohol related illnesses are a major problem in Scotland & there is a long way to go before we can really know if the response is effective
Minimum Unit Pricing - Rebuttal Example
Initial findings indicated that the policy had not reduced the amount of people under the age of 18 drinking when Scotland has an alcohol related death rate almost twice that of England according to Health Scotland
Minimum Unit Pricing - Rebuttal Analysis
The Scottish government really has a long way to go in responding to this issue
Minimum Unit Pricing - Conclusion
MUP has been fairly successful considering since its introduction, Scotland’s alcohol sales have consistently decreased
Overall Conclusion
Overall, MUP has been the most successful government policy introduced to tackle inequalities to a large extent. The drinking culture in Scotland has become increasingly more dangerous in recent years with alcohol related deaths being twice as high as in England. The introduction of MUP has improved the drinking culture in Scotland & there has been a 4% decrease in the sale of alcohol in Scotland according to the BBC. Currently, England & Wales have not implemented this policy & have seen a 3% increase in alcohol sales showing that MUP is effective & other countries should put it in place to reduce the number of people abusing alcohol
