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Social Policy in the United Kingdom

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Added on  2019-12-03

Social Policy in the United Kingdom

   Added on 2019-12-03

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Social Policy in the United Kingdom_1
TABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................2INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3TASK 1...................................................................................................................................31.1 Historical and contemporary landmarks in social welfare provision in UK..............31.2Examing the past and current social policies related to health and welfare needs ofthe population of UK.......................................................................................................4TASK 2...................................................................................................................................5(a) Discussing process involved in developing key health and social policy legislation5(b) Evaluating the impact of policies and outcomes on services and role of personcentred care...................................................................................................................6TASK 3...................................................................................................................................73.1 Critically analyzing the contemporary policy developments in HSC and................73.2Evaluating the impact of the current policy initiatives on HSC service users...........73.3 Explaining the role of these policies in improving quality of life of service users....8TASK 4...................................................................................................................................84.1 Evaluating recent development in HSC over last ten years....................................84.2...................................................................................................................................9CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................9REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTIONSocial policies can be defined as the guidelines, legislations and differentprinciples that work towards human welfare. It entails the study of different socialrelations that are necessary for the well being of mankind. The department of SocialPolicy that is active at London School of Economics has defined Social Policy as aninterdisciplinary and applied subject that is concerned with analysis of society. Thus thisreport will also undertake a detailed study of social policies that are active in health andsocial care in UK and what have been its key legislations since 1945 (Martin,Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). The origin of social policies will be studied alongwith the impact of the same on health and social care. An investigation will also becarried out of the recent developments that have been made in health care sector ofUK. These developments will also help in understanding what changes have beenmade over time in response to emerging social political and economic trends (Johnsonand D’Souza, 2008).TASK 11.1 Historical and contemporary landmarks in social welfare provision in UKThe social welfare provisions are considered to pertain on any program that isseek by the government to provide certain level of support to the disadvantaged peoplelike poor, disabled, unpaid workers, old age, patients, etc. The states or the nations thattend to offer a broader perspective of social welfare programs are known as ‘welfarestates’ that tend to provide guaranteed minimum standard of life along with illness aswell as social deprivation, etc (Nollan, Moonie and Lavers, 2005). Welfare service alsocomprises of social security that makes all the provisions against any form of disruptionof earning that is caused due to old age, sickness, injury, etc. Historical landmark ofwelfare system began in late 19th century in Western Europe and after that in 1911, UKand Russia introduced National Health Insurance. In 1940, UK took a lead and createda comprehensive welfare state that covered all elements (Humphries, 2010). With thisservice users can access good quality of services from nearby care homes. However,these formulated regulation brought continuous improvement in health and social careservices of UK. After that the Labor Government was elected in the country and theyintroduced three vital acts that are:The National Health Service Act in 1946,The 1946 National Insurance Act, and The 1948, National Assistance Act that abolished the poor law and made theprovisions for welfare services (Jutlla and Moreland, 2009).Another important aspect that was considered was regarding the social andhealth welfare in UK was done through social citizenship model. The issues that werepresent regarding social citizenship model were not that challenging especially in theanticipation of the emergence of the conservative party leader in 1975 and primeminister in 1979 (Stratton and Tadd, 2005). They promised low taxes, less interventionsof state and low level of public spending. There was also a Family Allowance Act in1945 that ensured that the children below the age of 15 who are dependent andchildren of the age 15-28 and all other non working children will be supported by familyallowances and child tax allowance (Rosi, Mamei and Zambonelli, 2013).In addition to it, National Health System in 1948 supported the people of UK byproviding free diagnosis as well as treatment of any kind of illness, at hospital or at3
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home. Similarly, National Assistance Act also created a financial safety for the peoplewho drastically suffered from poverty because they were not covered under NationalInsurance Scheme (Parry and Tyson, 2009). In addition to this, contemporary landmarkare current legislation and policies which facilitate take care of number of residents ofUK. Here, different acts like Health and Safety Care Act 2012 and Equality tend toensure protection of people and provide them good quality of services to large numberof users. Furthermore, provisions and regulations are also made for vulnerable peopleso they can have equal treatment in society. This brings improvement in service qualityand cater need of users effectively. Thus all these are the provisions that have beentaken and implemented by the government of UK since past few decades for improvingthe health and living conditions of the people of UK. All these social policies havehelped in improving the quality of life and standard of living of the people in the countrysince some social eras and after world war. Life expectancies of people have alsoimproved and people do live quite a healthy life in UK (Albareda and et.al, 2006).According to the above landmark, quality of life for services users have beenimproved to a great extent. It is because users are provided opportunity to file complaintagainst care home, if services are not provided up to the mark. On the other hand, incurrent scenario collaborative working in health and social sector has become verycommon. This tends to provide quick services to users because care home providenumber of services as experts and experienced people work with integrity. Moreover,vulnerable adults are cared with more attention now a days due to actions taken bygovernment against liable people. Thus, Care Quality Commission is working properlyto ensure that users and staff members in care home are treated in right manner andtheir needs are catered effectively.1.2Examing the past and current social policies related to health and welfare needs of the population of UKThe major evolution in health and social care sector were made post 1945 in UKand the government during the war time was committed to provide full employmentthrough its Keynesian policies and provided free education, introduced secondaryallowances and many other such actions were taken after 1945. Later in 1948, themuch hated poor law that was active since last 350 years was also abolished andactions were taken for the introduction of social policies that also included nationalinsurance, health services, and assistance acts that totally brought a great deal ofchanges in the conditions of the country on a larger scale. All these acts came into forceon June 7th, 1948 (Stewart and MacIntyre, 2013). Moving to 20th century, many fundamental changes were made followingSecond World War that was introduced under Labor Government in accordance withthe blue print that was presented in the Beveridge Report of 1942. Thus the period of1945-1970 is considered as an ideological period for the country as many major socialchanges were brought in that impacted the contemporary social policies in UK. It wasthe period of one of the political consensus that enshrined the idea of mixed economyand a welfare state (Seddon and et.al, 2013). At that time, UK government broughtchanges in health and social care policies through which users can effectively treatedfor their various disease. Similarly, the in between second world war, commencement ofThe National Health Service in England took place by the National Health Service Act1946. 4
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