The Welfare State

Question 1

What type of view is the belief in cradle to the grave welfare?

Answer 1

Social democratic

Question 2

What are other types of solutions to poverty that show the current UK welfare system isn’t entirely effective?

Answer 2

1. Voluntary welfare such as charity’s. 2. Informal welfare such as families and communities.

Question 3

What 4 things did the Beveridge report of 1942 aim for?

Answer 3

1. Full employment. 2. Universal Welfare. 3. Free healthcare and education 4. That women should be housewives and mothers.

Question 4

What did the Beveridge report aim to destroy?

Answer 4

The five giants of: want, ignorance, disease, squalor and idleness.

Question 5

When did the welfare state come into effect and what did it include?

Answer 5

The 5th of July 1948. Benefits, free NHS, Free compulsory education. Social services.

Question 6

What are 3 advantages to state welfare provision?

Answer 6

1. It provides a safety net when private sectors fail. 2. It provides a range of services, for example social services cover: homelessness, care homes and child services. 3. Things can be easily held account for the failings such as schools are done by OFSTED.

Question 7

What are 2 disadvantages to state welfare provision?

Answer 7

1. It is often at the mercy of funding from the government which can make cuts such as seen with the NHS, this also leads to inequality in education. 2. Too much demand can place incredible pressure on one thing such as the NHS waiting lists during COVID.

Question 8

What’s welfare pluralism?

Answer 8

Welfare being both provided by the public sector, private and family’s and communities.

Question 9

What are 3 advantages of welfare pluralism?

Answer 9

1. There a large range and number of choices. 2. It acts as a safety net. 3. It removes pressure on the other sectors.

Question 10

What are 3 disadvantages of welfare pluralism?

Answer 10

1. It allows for the government to move blame onto companies. 2. It is at disadvantage for the unemployed. 3. Companies can take advantage of crisise.

Question 11

Who would argue the importance of informal welfare provision?

Answer 11

New right thinkers as it celebrates the importance of family structure.

Question 12

How has the Beveridge reports assumption of the role of women effected welfare provision?

Answer 12

Much welfare provision relies on the fact that women will be staying home looking after the children with the husbands working.

Question 13

What are 3 examples of the voluntary sector?

Answer 13

Cancer research, Shelter, Age UK.

Question 14

What are 3 advantages of the voluntary sector?

Answer 14

1. Charities can have higher levels of expertise such as how cancer research is able to specialize in that area whilst the government would not be able too. 2. They are able to respond quickly to peoples needs as they have more funding and the company is focused on specific areas.3. They can act as pressure groups such as environmental charities.

Question 15

What are 2 disadvantages of the voluntary sector?

Answer 15

1. They often lack adequate funds to be effective as they would like to as they are so reliant on public donations which aren’t reliable unlike state welfare. 2. They do not exist in all areas they would like too such as funding in certain areas.

Question 16

What are some examples of the private sector?

Answer 16

Private hospitals and schools, care homes, pensions and medical insurance.

Question 17

What do New Right thinkers believe about the private sector?

Answer 17

Its more efficient and effective as its profit driven.

Question 18

Who came up with the idea of the caring face of capitalism?

Answer 18

Pearce.

Question 19

What policies have been introduced to lessen the gap between men and women?

Answer 19

The equal pay act and maternity/paternity pay.

Question 20

Why do social democrats believe benefits should be available to all?

Answer 20

Means tested benefits create a stigma around claiming them, therefore those who are entitled to benefits may not always claim them. It also puts some people off getting low paid jobs. It also promotes social cohesion through a less divided society.

Question 21

What was the market liberal movement?

Answer 21

In the late 70s it became more dominant, it argued for less state involvement and a free market.

Question 22

What years were the new right and conservative government in power?

Answer 22

1979-1997

Question 23

What were the 3 main aims of the new right and conservative goverment?

Answer 23

1. Raising quality through competition to reduce dependency culture and inefficiency. 2. To target benefits to the deserving poor. 3. The population was encouraged to rely on themselves rather than the state.

Question 24

Why did the New Right and conservative government cut welfare benefits?

Answer 24

To get rid of the nanny state and bring more money back to the state.

Question 25

What did the New Right introduce charges too and what were the positives and negatives of this?

Answer 25

Eye tests, dentists and prescriptions if you were working. More money therefore went to essential services but those who cant afford it may have begun to sacrifice healthcare.

Question 26

What was the CSA?

Answer 26

The Child Support Allowance to penalize absent fathers.

Question 27

What years were the new labour government in power and what was it called?

Answer 27

1997-2010. The third way.

Question 28

What did New labours approach to welfare become known as?

Answer 28

A handup not a handout.

Question 29

What type of approach did new labour take?

Answer 29

A social democratic one whilst maintaining some new right ideas.

Question 30

How did new labour increase benefits?

Answer 30

There was an increase in how much people could claim in benefits and there were big spending increases in pensions for the elderly, healthcare and education.

Question 31

What wage law did new labour introduce?

Answer 31

The national minimum wage, helping get rid of absolute poverty.

Question 32

What are tax credits and what does this have to do with new labour?

Answer 32

Money that tax payers can take off their income tax. New labour introduced them to help the lowest paid in society. This helped people overcome the poverty trap.

Question 33

What was the family intervention project?

Answer 33

New labour policy that intervened with family’s where there was multiple problems and anti social behavior in order to prevent the cycle of deprivation.

Question 34

How did new labour change childcare laws?

Answer 34

There was an increase in childcare education with all 3 and 4 year old’s, guaranteed five half days in nursery.

Question 35

What were sure start centers?

Answer 35

These were opened by new labour to provide parenting advice/baby groups for disadvantaged and minority groups. This was to reduce the gap between the rich and poor, dealing with the roots of poverty.

Question 36

What was new labours neighbourhood renewal strategy?

Answer 36

It was an attempt to regenerate the most deprived communities and help improve the health and education of the most disadvantaged. This involved spending more money on social housing.

Question 37

How did New labour try to bridge the gender gap?

Answer 37

They attempted to get women back into work by schemes such as the new deal.

Question 38

What years were the coalition government in power?

Answer 38

2010-2015

Question 39

How did new labour try to reduce poverty?

Answer 39

1 in 4 children were in poverty so they attempted to eliminate it within generations.

Question 40

What approach did the coalition government take to poverty?

Answer 40

Mainly new right, however they did continue some of the social democratic new labour approaches.

Question 41

What 3 ways did the coalition government continue new labours approaches?

Answer 41

1. They continued the emphasis on parenting skills and flexible childcare as a means of tackling child poverty. 2. Steps were taken to make sure that it was more beneficial to go to work then be on benefits. 3. Universal credit was introduced.

Question 42

What’s universal credit?

Answer 42

A simplified benefit system to make it easier for people to apply to benefits, providing people with a basic minimum income that would get decreased the someone worked.

Question 43

What were 2 problems with the coalition governments policies that attempted to continue the social democratic approach?

Answer 43

It got rid of tax credits which left people in debt if they summitted their forms late and after universal credit was introduced there was a 50% increase in food bank usage.

Question 44

How did the coalition government change the way the welfare system was viewed?

Answer 44

There was a reemergence of the deserving and underserving poor, the idea of a dependency culture. There was an intensifying process of disciplining those on benefits, ongoing checks to see if they were seeking work and removing benefits if they failed to comply. Those who were on benefits were regarded as “shirkers.”

Question 45

How did the coalition government change sickness benefits?

Answer 45

There was a stricter definition of what being incapable of work actually meant. New medical tests were introduced with the aims of cutting the number of people claiming sickness benefits.

Question 46

How did the coalition government change benefits for the disabled?

Answer 46

Benefits for the disabled, particularly families with disabled children were cut.

Question 47

How were sure start centers changed under the coalition government?

Answer 47

They were either closed completely or suffered cuts to funding. They also abandoned the new labour goals of reducing child poverty.

Question 48

How did child benefits change under the coalition government?

Answer 48

The amount given did not increase for 3 years. The number you could claim for was also limited to three.

Question 49

How was housing benefit changed under the coalition goverment?

Answer 49

It was capped depending on the area you lived in, forcing people out of the inner cities to the North where rent was cheaper. However, this affected poor families the most as these were the areas with the highest rate of unemployment, increasing the cycle of deprivation.

Question 50

What was the bedroom tax?

Answer 50

Benefits being reduced for those who had a spare bedroom, introduced by the coalition government.

Question 51

How did the coalition government change the educational benefits?

Answer 51

The ended the educational maintenance allowance and introduced higher university fees.

Question 52

What’s the inverse care law?

Answer 52

Those whose need is the greatest gets the least spent on them and vice versa. Julian le Grand argued that most welfare spending consists of universal benefits which go to everyone which the middle class have the most to gain. For example the middle class are more likely to h=be more assertive with doctors and get better health care, they receive more funding in education as their children are most likely to be able to stay in it, they are more likely to commute to work so benefit from spending on public transport and they are more likely to use public services such as libraries and parks.