logo

Evolution of Welfare Policies

   

Added on  2020-02-03

7 Pages2106 Words220 Views
Political Science
 | 
 | 
 | 
Social Policy and Society
Evolution of Welfare Policies_1

TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................11. Importance of 1834 Poor Law in social policy.............................................................................12. Progress of social policy between 1900 and 1914........................................................................23. Strengths and weaknesses of the welfare state in 1940s’.............................................................24. Key features of New Labour social policy...................................................................................3CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................4REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................5
Evolution of Welfare Policies_2

INTRODUCTIONSocial policy refers to a mechanism that combines economics, politics and sociology inorder to examine that how UK government is addressing social issues for ensuring justice andpublic welfare. It consists of various rules, regulations and statutory principles that government usesfor welfare and protection of the society (Bochel and Powell, 2016). The present project reportemphasizes upon various kinds of social policies and regulations applied in UK i.e. Poor Law Act,1834, Welfare state and New Labour Social Policy for examining the mandatory governingprinciples to ensure public safety and well-being. 1. Importance of 1834 Poor Law in social policyIn 1834, UK Parliament has introduced several amendments in Poor Law 1601, called PoorLaw Amendment Act (PLAA) 1837 or New Poor Law. The amendments were introducedconsidering three principles, Malthus (population increase rapidly than resources), Ricardo’s ironlaw of wages and Bentham’s principle that people demand relief rather than working somewhere.The legislation plays an important role in the social policy because after such amendments, peoplebelieve that the reform will reduce the cost of looking to the poor because they would have stoppedthe outflow of money to the poor except only in special circumstances (Green, 2016). Now, after thereform in 1834, people have to go to the workstations where they are provided with the cloth, foodand shelter facilities in exchange for the labor work performed. They are abided by the strictprinciples, rules and regulations and live in terrible conditions. The law encourages and motivatespoor people in the society for working hard to help themselves and take beggars out off the street. Ithas two priorities stated as: moving of people to the urban areas, towns, cities where individual canfound employment opportunities and protecting urban payers from the excessive wages demand ofmigrant people before getting a full-time employment (Evans, 2016). Many individuals react positively to such reforms i.e. Duke of Wellington and Poor lawCommissioner named James Kay-Shuttleworth supported the act as they believed that majority ofthe population were poor just because of their own foolishness. They said that industrial revolutionhas led too many changes i.e. rapid growth of population, rising rate of unemployment and others,which in turn, increases number of poor in the country. Thus, these amendments are based on theprinciple of less eligibility and workhouse test will have a serious impact on the poverty in UK. Theact was issued on the belief that granting financial assistance, pensions and other benefits can resultin serious consequences; thus, poverty is seen as a misfortune and pays focus on improvement ofpoverty and employment rate so as to make poor people free from the poverty. However, on theother hand, Richard Oastler has argued that new law is cruel by calling workhouses as prisoners for1
Evolution of Welfare Policies_3

End of preview

Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.

Related Documents
Welfare State: Misuse and New Labour Policies
|6
|1414
|65

Development of the Welfare State timeline
|7
|2558
|334

Development of the Welfare State since Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
|6
|1352
|421

Introduction to Social Policy: History and Development of Welfare State Legislation
|2
|694
|452

Timeline for Introduction to Social Policy
|8
|1937
|20

Development of the Welfare State since Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 - BSc (Hons) in Health and Social Care
|12
|3561
|128