Is the UK welfare state in crisis?

Is the UK upbeat extract in crisis?Since the British Welf atomic issuing 18 maintain materialized in 1945, the debate on how to reform it has never ceased. In the root 25 years after it was introduced, the debate concerned how to increase its scope and abolish means-tested bring ins. Then, after the economic crisis in the 1970s, the aim was on how to trim it back. Now, the afterlife of the eudaimonia submit itself it the subject of fierce debate.In this essay I will begin with a history of the UK Welf ar State and how it came about, before analysing a few of the key elements of the welf be state which will help me decide whether the welfare state is in crisis. I will then finish with a conclusion with my thoughts and views, verbalised.The narrow definition of the welfare state comprises two types of organisation spending (1) cash benefits to households such as transfers and income insurance and (2) subsidies or direct presidency provision of human services such as pre-sch ooling, culture, child care, wellness care and old age care. The broader definition of welfare state includes housing policies, worth regulation, job security legislation and environmental policies1. The purpose of the welfare state is to create economic equality or to assure equitable standards of living for all2, to cling to British mess from unemployment3, and to encourage the provision of the fond services on the same basis as the universal services such as roadstead and libraries4. However, there are differing opinions as to whether the objective of the welfare state is a simple iodine, as John G. Francis states the purpose is to allocate public funds In order to secure certain minimum life support services for those most in need and to construct a comprehensive set of amicable and economic policies designed to realize a certain vision of society.5 Morris Janowitz, on the separate hand, paints a more minimal portrait of the welfare state the welfare state rests on the political assumption that the well-being of its citizens is enhanced not only by allocations derived from their occupations and the marketplace provided also grants regulated by the profound government. He explains that in addition to the government provisions of benefits for its citizens, there are two further elements in his conception of a welfare state (1) parliamentary regime determination of resource allocation and (2) the recognition of the states right to intervene in order to create the conditions under(a) which citizens can pursue their goals.The welfare state was developed primarily by William Beveridge. In 1941, the British government commissi hotshotd a constitution into the ways Britain should be rebuilt after the Second World War, chiefly how improvements could be made to the outline of providing sickness and unemployment insurance. Beveridge was the obvious candidate to compile the blueprints for the welfare state due to his book on Unemployment A Problem of e xertion in 1909, in which he argued that full employment could be obtained if industry was not constrained by over regulation.7 In 1942 as the war reached its height, he produced his report The Report on Social Insurance and proposed that all hatful of working age should pay a weekly interior(a) insurance rancidice where benefits would be gainful to the sick, unemployed and retired and thus provide a minimum standard of living for all citizens.8 He also identified five elephantine evils that plagued society and could be tackledWant (today we call it poverty) by establishing a comprehensive social security bodyDisease by establishing a new health serviceIdleness by the state aiming for full employmentIgnorance by reforming the education systemSqualor by a new house building and slum clearance programme9The archetypical of Beveridges proposals came into effect before WW2 ended. In 1944 the Ministry of content Insurance was set up before the Family Allowances Act was passed a year later.11 Reactions to the report were decreedIt gave me a feeling there was something to work for and fight for after all and that our efforts might be rewarded by some real social improvement, openhanded means to the phrase winning the peace. (Royal Artillery, male, 29)Its the goods All the yearnings, hopes, dreams and theories of socialists for the past half century imbibe been crystallized into a practical economic formula. Equity for the lowest roughhewn denominator I was staggered by its comprehension. (Insurance clerk, male, 39, Newport)I am aware of a new feeling of confidence in myself as a member of a republican society when I see those social reforms which I establish considered necessary for such long time actually taking shape. (Accountant, male, 40, Prestwick) 12Such positive reaction, though not all positive, led to a landslide victory for Clement Attlee and his Labour Party and he decided to seize upon Beveridges proposals as a basis for radical action, an d proceeded to implement m any(prenominal) social policies, which became known as the public assistance State. Attlees hope was to have Beveridges plan in force by 1948, but in a time when Britain was suffering from the severe conditions of post-war Britain, it did not have the money to pay flat rate benefits that would keep quite a little out of poverty.13 The National Assistance act which was passed in 1948 played a bigger role in improving poverty than Beveridge had planned and because the idea of basing entitlement on contributions through study insurance was flawed, it meant many people, in particular women, were excluded from the system. An new(prenominal) act which passed was the National health Service Act 1946, which came into effect on 5th of July 1948 and created the National Health Service in England and Wales.14 After the landslide victory for Labour in 1945, Aneurin Bevan was appointed minister of health, responsible for establishing the National Health Service. Si nce there was already a free, compulsory state education service, the people of Britain now probably had the most comprehensive Welfare State system in the world.15The question of whether the UK welfare is in crisis is one that has been asked before. The welfare state in the 1970s was claimed to be in crisis with oil price shocks and increasing food prices adding pressure on the parsimoniousness and leading to a rise in unemployment. Though the causes sharp reductions in output by OPEC and exchange rate fluctuations were said to be external to the welfare state 16, there still continues to be a debate over not just whether the welfare state is in crisis but also if it is sustainable. The first area I will tackle is state benefits. As of September 2009, there were 2.7million people claiming incapacity benefits in the UK17 and with reports stating that less than a third of these claimants are legitimate18, it begs the question that are the standards of the UK health service so in n ice that more people than ever are incapacitated? The simple answer is the majority of these people are simply work-shy19. Michael Portillo of the Sunday Times pointed out the intentions of the Welfare Stare was to prevent this abuse of the system by the work shy20The state should not human knee incentive, opportunity, responsibility, wrote Sir William Beveridge in the 1942 report that inspired the post-war welfare state. In establishing a national minimum it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.These work shy people are forcing the tax nitty-gritty on the hard working families and as a result, taxpayers have spent 346bn on payments to those out work since Tony Blair entered Downing Street. He goes onto say It might have been possible for the state to fine tune benefits when all claimant was known to the local poor law guardians. It is overmuch more difficult today in systems that are nationalised and standardised, before concluding, we ought to assume that fit young people are not entitled to anything. If a few young men from sink estates are now heroes in Afghanistan, why should we presume that all the others are capable of nothing useful at all? Some believe such a centrally planned benefits system is bound to fail because it is not feasible for a planning body to know all the circumstances and facts to able to assess who is in an incapacitated state21.Another area of benefits that has come under scrutiny is child benefits. This has long been considered untouchable as it has high take-up rates and passionate support across the political sector. However, new goals such as reducing child poverty whilst at the same time cutting spending, it is time the state challenged its status as the sacred cow of the welfare state22. amid 1999 and 2004, 600,000 children managed to escape poverty as result of their guardians/parents finding work. However, this trend reve rsed when the recession hit when between 2008 and 2009, 160,000 more children were in workless households and, inevitably, in poverty. Kate Stanley of the Institute for familiar Policy Research makes the point that the welfare state must become much more efficient in reaching poor children and child benefit is one of governments primary tools in ending poverty.23 She goes onto explain that we need to bite the bullet and make it progressively universal so that everyone gets something but poorer families get most, adding further, one option would be to tax child benefit and use the tax to increase the rate of benefit paid to second and subsequent children. As with any policy change, putting forward such change is unquestionably controversial. However, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that yes, while there is a need for a benefit reform in the UK, does it necessarily mean the welfare state as a whole is in crisis? On this show up, I can close up with a wholehearted, no .British schools have somewhat of a mixed reputation. Quality of state education is known to vary whilst universities and other higher education institutions garner an excellent reputation internationally and take in thousands of foreign students. The state education system in the UK has been changing at a hectic pace in recent decades which has led to a generation of curriculum chaos and crisis caused by a lack of funding, crumbling infrastructure and shortages of books and other equipment24. Many schools have been forced to cut their teaching budgets at a time when they should have been increasing them, and some have had insufficient funds to buy books for the revised national curriculum and other essentials. This is only going to get worse with the recent spending review by The Coalition hinting there may be uncivilized cutsin the education budget25. The budget for the Department of Education last year was 66.7bn, rising to an estimated 68.7bn this year. While Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to protect Sure Start, the government plan where childrens centres have been built by Labour to provide nursery care, it means other areas such as school buildings and support services are in all probability to be even harder hit. And it only gets worse the Audit Commission claims that millions of pounds are still being misspent. A report last year found schools were school term on excessive cash reserves of almost 2bn and 400m a year could be saved if schools bought desks, equipment and services more sensibly26. However, it is easy to criticise and easy to block off the positives. The last government claimed the increase in funding produced key successes, including rises in primary and secondary school exam results, a drop in the number of failing schools, an increase in the number of children staying on in education beyond the leaving age and improvements to early years care with the establishment of a network of Sure Start childrens centres. However, this all happened during the last government. With ever more bleak and worrying headlines such as Students to face unlimited fees, Nearly one in five children aged 16-19 is functionally illiterate and Schools prepare to cut frontline services, it is not surprising why many are saying the education system in the UK is in trouble.A recent programme on BBC illustrated how Toby Young struggled to set up a new school within the state system. The pressing concern was the campaign to stop these schools was endorsed by the National Union of Teachers. The reason why Mr Young was trying to set up these schools was because they were wanted by parents not happy with the existing state schools. There is mass evidence to support their views with reports year on year showing dwindling numbers on the number of pupils that achieve 5 A-C GCSEs. It is about time students are able to realise their full potential instead of facing silly obstacles. It is no love private schools attain far higher grades and p ass rates than public schools as they receive much more attention in their small score setting. I see no reason at this stage to go against what many people are saying the UK welfare state is very much in crisis.The last area I cover is bountys. In the UK there are three major pension routes (1) occupational final salary pension plans from your employer (2) the state pension where you may have entitlement to a top-up plan as well as the basic state pension. Those who are not well off may have their retirement earnings boosted by a pension credit and (3) the money purchase pension schema either from your employer or from other earnings such as self-employment (these are called personal pensions)27. There are three problems in pension reforms in the UK. The first being whether to continue with the PAYG system or switch to a preservation system, though this fight seems to be over as many academics and politicians accept the need to move to a economy or funded system. The second pro blem is whether, if you opt for the saving system, to make savings voluntary or compulsory, and if compulsory whether or not to give savers a choice of pension providers. The move to a saving or funded system has a great economic advantage in that it builds compound interest into the entitlement. In other words, you invest in the economy and you get the benefit when you retire. Many would like to return to the ideal situation of not wanting to be a burden on your family and the next generation, but as that family obligation myth still continues, it is too high a price to pay for the economic costs of the catamenia system29. The question that leads from this is whether to make saving voluntary or compulsory. I would suggest setting a minimum for compulsory savings and let people saving voluntarily for larger pensions. Indeed the government introduced voluntary pension saving in the new world of pensions, but being auto-enrolled into a pension scheme will be compulsory.The high leve l of state pension from the age of 65 has been found to cost too much and has steadily declined in sexual congress to average incomes and been replaced by what many call the disastrous means-tested pension credit. With the pension age to rise to 68, this will be a long overdue bankers acceptance of vastly increased longevity30. This demonstrates the slow pace to which the UK responds to changes in reality. The Beveridge report laid the foundations of the post-war welfare state, declaring every citizen who paid his or her contributions should be able to claim an adequate pension worth more than any means tested benefit31. As Philip Johnston of the Telegraph puts it, after 100 years in which living standards have quadrupled, a pension designed to prevent the poorest in society enduring a penurious old age has failed in its purpose. James Bartholomew, in his book The Welfare State Were In, posed the question if we would have been better off without the state pension. He answered,It s eems likely that if the state pension had not been introduced, British people would have saved a great deal more and, overall, would probably now be wealthier in their old age. The late 19th century trend for people to become less benefit dependent would have continued, and it would be normal to have very substantial savings. Old people would have more independency and dignity in retirement.In conclusion, I agree with the claim that the UK welfare state is in crisis. During the research for this essay, I found almost no evidence to say otherwise, which was a surprise. I have discovered the welfare state has been a failure and I believe the state should stop funding anything beyond a minimum safety net. As stated before, money is being wasted due to recklessness in its spending and rather than divert (even more) resources from social security to health and education, as the government plans, it should slash taxes and let people pay for their own welfare services. The demand for these two categories rises faster than national income and public spending is unlikely to be able to keep up, thus bringing us back to the perpetual perception that they are underfunded. I read an provoke post made by a member of the public on an online forum that made the following commentWhenever all of part of the NHS runs out of money, wards are closed or operations are delayed or a cost saving measure is taken, but never are salaries cut back. 154This illustrates how the government have a strong inclination to protect their staff first, instead of their customers who receive the service. But of course the nurses and doctors and administrators feel like they are under paid and endure difficult conditions, and this is a good deal too. It bottles down to the point that their pay and their pensions are not damaged which otherwise would be if they were not working for the government.The future on the welfare state itself is uncertain at this point in time. The right are in agreement th at unwarranted spending on the welfare state has weakened economic growth and reduced incentives, while the left feel the traditional welfare state has not paid enough attention to epochal groups like women and ethnic minorities. Policy reforms have strengthened not just in the UK but also in the continental Europe and the US. The government often deliberates and avoids making tough decisions, such as introducing a compulsory savings scheme or increasing state pensions, which have been needed to deal with the crisis. As Steve Schifferes of the BBC puts it, though the government wants to seek a political consensus before proceeding with radical reform, time may be running out