Social Security and Income Maintenance: A Study of Welfare Provision and Citizenship

This essay discusses the social security and income maintenance policies in the UK, including welfare provision and citizenship. It covers the challenges faced by the elderly and disabled, and the role of organisations in providing support. The report also highlights the importance of social inclusion and equal opportunities for all citizens.

LC564 CITIZENSHIP
COMMUNITY AND
WELFARE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Welfare provision........................................................................................................................3
Citizenship...................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Social security refers as the federal program that provides the benefit to the retired workers
to improve their living standards. Income maintenance is the governmental program that aims to
provide the financial help to the people who are in extreme need so that they can easily manage
their certain income level (Bowman, Thornton and Mallett, 2019). In UK current schemes
involve national insurance scheme (NIS) has been provided which address the unemployment,
retirement that involves the cash benefits. Other schemes are also provided which are National
health service (NHS), they provide the free treatment for optical, dental and other medical
services and other schemes such as statutory payment to employees which are paternity and
maternity leaves etc. Unemployment and disability and pension are the main issues which the
social security aims to deal with it (Scheibelhofer and Holzinger, 2018). As for the pension
concern government is not completely involved in such activity but they incorporate with it. For
the disable people there is a provision implemented by the UK government to provide the
disability living allowance which is tax free advantage to the disable people, it aims to provide
the personal care services to those people who are mentally and physically disabled.
As for the example it is found that most of the elderly people are isolated from their
families as they get retired from their job. Thus in such there are running of different
organisation that aims to improvise the living standards of such people and make them able to
enjoy their after life.
UK government have provided various benefits through the social security schemes, it helps
in empowering their people. This essay will be going to cover the discussion over the social
security and income maintenance, it will covers the points which are welfare provision and
citizenship. Moving on further in Welfare point it will highlights the understanding of the
problem, its particular needs and risks, it also discuss how it will impact the particular group of
people and the organisations that delivers such services. In such it will also describe the roles and
surveillance that are associated with the welfare provisions. Essay will covers the area in
citizenship which consist of inclusion of citizenship components, social and economic basis, it
also discuss the principles and values that are used to inform the social participation among
citizens. Later it will lay out the citizenship interaction with the other significant aspect of social
identity.

MAIN BODY
Welfare provision
Welfare provisions are those that are implemented for providing the essential facilities to
people, for an example of business in such it is important for the organisation to provide the
services, safer work place environment to the employees. It has been found that in UK
government has implemented the laws which are old age pension and disability insurance to
provide the benefit to the people so that their living standard can be improved. Government
provides the benefits to people in order to reduce the gap between poor and rich, but there are
some evidences which shows that some people are taking advantage of the social security
scheme and some people are not able to access such scheme benefit (Harris and et.al 2020). It is
the barrier in providing the social securities and income maintenance to the people who are in
actual need of this. More broadly welfare may also account the efforts that focus on providing
the average level of wellbeing from subsidies social care services which ae healthcare, basic
education, public housing etc. In the welfare state, government analyse the responsibilities for
the health and education for the welfare of the community. It is found that in countries of western
Europe, Australia, social welfare is generally given by the legislative bodies which is come from
the national tax revenues and from charities.
Modernity term refer as the modern period that are initiated in Europe several years ago, it is
the condition of the social existence which is distinct from the past human experience. In context
with the late modernity it refers as today’s characterisation a highly enhanced global societies are
the modernity continuation instead of succeeding factor that called as post modernity. It is found
in Europe there is a risk regarding old age as it is seen that after retirement families separates the
old people and leave them to suffer even if they need medical care. It has been argued that, older
people shifts from their care state to the individualised state care as it comes under the advanced
modernity condition (Samek, Kapteyn and Gray, 2019). In which the growing olds are moving
from collective to the individual experience. It is also suggested that aging is the socially
developed element which is shaped in the late modernity because of the politically pioneered in
form of retirement. Aging, at age of 60 is developed as a part of the welfare state, it is more like
the welfare dependency, as the society who separate the old people from majority cannot be
termed as the inclusive. However, it is also argued that risk is the important factor to reflexive
shapes the old age, first it is found that traditional approaches for responding such risks are not

appropriate, and it also found that European societies are not inclusive. As late modernity mainly
highlighted the concept of the individualist where old people are being forced to live by their
own. There are many organisations are operated in UK to provide support to old people, they try
to make old people to avail their rights and to access the social securities that are being provided
by their government (Simpson, 2018).
Main functions of the welfare state are to accounts equality of opportunity and to afford the
basic living standard so that all human can live with dignity whatever their status in the social
structure. It is clearly seen that welfare state, usually relies on some element of welfare state that
wits with some ongoing debates over the discipline. In UK welfare administration mainly
undergoes into the two main reforms since inception where the initial level covers the 1960s and
1970s, central government manage the public expenditure from the treasury. Main purpose of the
reform was managerial efficiency and the economically planning (Sabelhaus and Volz, 2020).
The impact was made to develop the system where the treasury can provide the resources to the
departments. Administration further divides into the agencies so that it can easily assessed
individually. For an example NHS agencies and other administrative agencies to provide the
better social security to the citizens who are in need of it. Local government develop in region of
England and Wales, as to provide the local services for the health, social needs and education to
the people. As per the UK they have the centralised governmental system that means very
limited power which the local government possess. Unlike private insurance company’s Social
security administration generally do not conducts the surveillance investigation but it doesn’t
mean that they do not check the right documents, as if someone is claiming for the disability then
Social security team cross checks the document and also asks for the disability proof. Thus it
helps in providing the facilities to those people who are actually in need and not to the people
who are clowning the government by fake identities to avail the benefits.
Citizenship
As it is stated above that social security refers a security that is being provided by
appropriate organisations against certain risks to which society members specially people with
the age of 60 and above are permanently exposed. There are number of organisations in the UK
that provides cash benefits for sick people, employment opportunities, retirement services and
others. All these benefits make people feel secure and it can help them out in maintaining income
and improving living standard (Gross, Layton and Prinz, 2020). There are number of factors

that affect this social security and income maintenance and citizenship is one of the main aspects.
In regard to citizenship, it is found that people who have dual citizenship then also people can
apply for some of benefits of social security. Health and education, social welfare, sense of
community are some advantages that citizen can take. As per the international social security
agreements, people can take number of advantages as it eliminates dual social security taxation
when an employee from one country works in another country and it is required to pay social
security taxes to both countries on the same earning. In addition, it is also stated that it helps
them out in filling gaps in benefit protection for workers who have divided their careers between
other countries and US.
There are number of institutions and voluntary organisations that provide social security and
help out people in income maintenance such as: disability insurance trust funds, survivors, old
age trust funds and treaties (Kidd and et.al 202). Many of the benefits are being given to people
who have citizenship of US. From secondary data, it is found that to great extent Americans rely
on social security benefits like medical insurance, pension and amount that they get after
retirement. One of the major risks which the social security is facing regarding the demographic
shifts, as the increasing population is also challenging for the government as many new born will
become eligible for the beneficiaries. Also government reduce the retirement benefits for those
who are mainly earning more in a year. As social security generally tracks the income
maintenance that are intended to provide to the people who are deprived because of
unemployment or old age. Vulnerability in the social security and income maintenance can be
understood as there is in proportionalities which can be easily seen that as compare to the men
women workers are usually less paid they also not receives the private pensions (Malfitano, Cruz
and Lopes, 2020). It is also found that vulnerabilities to the poverty are more found in the rural
areas, where the people are living on low income also they are not able to assess the basic
services, basic risk mitigation strategy is to borrow and sale the assets utilise the own savings,
but no support is getting from the social security program.
Social inclusion where the efforts are made by the government to provide everyone good
opportunity regardless of their experience and other circumstances. To accomplish the inclusion
income and the employment is essential but not sufficient. In every country there are some
groups who majorly faces the barriers regarding availing the basic services, barriers restrict them
to completely part in the political, economic life. These groups are not only excluded from the

legal bodies but they are also discriminated from the societies because of their beliefs and
stigmatising attitudes. Such exclusion mainly steals the rights, security and opportunities from
the people to lead a better life. Disadvantage to such groups is mainly based on the gender, age,
disability, race and ethnicity which creates the negative environment. For an example it is found
in some instances where the organisation discriminates their employees on the basis of their
cultural identities, also there are some evidences which shows that recruiters uses biases and
directly stops the disable person to part in the interview process. Thus under social security
provision there are some schemes which is implemented for the people who are facing such
problems, these schemes helping them in providing the better opportunity for their living
standards (Norris and Hayden, 2018).
In UK, people who are age of 65 and women are age of 63 are liable to avail the retirement
pension, thus this contribution is made to support the child, elderly and to the disable people, so
that they can also live their life like others are living. Inclusive characteristics of the citizenship
is the policy where all the people can part in the societies irrespective of their background, race,
age, ethnicity and culture (Parker, 2018). Where all people are equally served and allowed in
policy making, and in states government usually follows the bottom to top approach instead of
top down approach. Thus to provide the social security to all UK government have policies and
schemes to provide the benefit that helps in empowering the people who belongs to such
background and culture, their main aim is to diminish the differences which is found in the
society. For every country it is important their citizens are getting all the facilities and equal
benefits otherwise it affects the economy very badly. There are some provisions also found to
provide the income maintenance benefits to the people, as at work place employees are allowed
to make claim if they have been facing any kind of discrimination from their organisation.
People in communities also changing their attitude towards the backward people, as they are
allowing them to enjoy being a part of the community. Thus strictly implementation of the
provision helps in improvising the overall country’s infrastructure where all citizens are able to
access the basic services (Kutza, 2018). As if equality is served then it helps in boosting the
economy, thus there are many organisation and agencies which are running in UK to provide
support to the people who are separated by the society, as many agencies runs for the old people
to empower them and to make them able to efficiently live their life. Many agencies also run for

the child care and disable people support to provide them social security, they work on grooming
people so that they can improve their living standards.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that social security and income maintenance plays a
significant role. Provisions are implemented regarding social security to provides basic services
to the people. These policies involve the retirement pension and other services to the aged people
and also to empowers them. It’s not only limited to old age people; policies account the people
who are in extreme need. Organisations NIS and NHS runs to provide best facilities to the
people. In NHS program free optical and dental treatment are provided to people. Above report
have illustrated the description about the welfare provisions as welfare state provides the basis
rights and services to the people to fill the gaps found in societies, and to equally treats the
people irrespective of their background identity. Report have discussed the depth description
about the social security and income maintenance issues, it also covered the description about the
changing conception of the citizenship.
As for the future recommendations government should focus on the social insurance as it is
major social security development which aims to overcome all the risks that are associated with
the society. It will enable them to provide the benefits such as retirement pension, sickness
period, organisational injuries and in unemployment causes. Thus it will help in providing the
benefit to the people (Kearney and Mogstad, 2019). Other strategies for the future improvement
is universal basic income, in which UBI aims to give the basic income replacing policy in the
social security system. Cutting down the social security benefits can be a unpopular task instead
of this government can proceed to increase the payroll taxes it helps in funding the social
security so that services can be availed for the needy people. Thus with all these social security
and income maintenance issues can be easily resolved, and with this there will be more
opportunities can be developed to give the better outcomes.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bowman, D., Thornton, D. and Mallett, S., 2019. Reclaiming social security for a just future: a
principled approach to reform.
Gross, T., Layton, T. and Prinz, D., 2020. The liquidity sensitivity of healthcare consumption:
Evidence from social security payments (No. w27977). National Bureau of Economic
Research.
Harris, N. and et.al 2020. Coronavirus and social security entitlement in the UK. Neville Harris,
Ciara Fitzpatrick, Jed Meers and Mark Simpson,'Coronavirus and Social Security
Entitlement in the UK'(2020). 27(2).
Kearney, M.S. and Mogstad, M., 2019. Universal basic income (UBI) as a policy response to
current challenges. Report, Aspen Institute, pp.1-19.
Kidd, S. and et.al 2020. The social contract and the role of universal social security in building
trust in government. Development Pathways Working Paper November.\
Kutza, E.A., 2018. Benefits for the disabled: how beneficial for women?. In Women and
disability (pp. 68-86). Routledge.
Malfitano, A.P.S., Cruz, D.M.C.D. and Lopes, R.E., 2020. Occupational therapy in times of
pandemic: social security and guaranties of possible everyday life for all. Cadernos
Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional. 28. pp.401-404.
Norris, M. and Hayden, A., 2018. Funding Council Housing Provision, Management and
Maintenance: An analysis of the financial sustainability of local authority provided social
housing (No. 201822). Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
Parker, H., 2018. Instead of the dole: An enquiry into integration of the tax and benefit systems.
Routledge.
Sabelhaus, J. and Volz, A.H., 2020. Social Security Wealth, Inequality, and Lifecycle Saving.
In Measuring and Understanding the Distribution and Intra/Inter-Generational Mobility
of Income and Wealth. University of Chicago Press.
Samek, A., Kapteyn, A. and Gray, A., 2019. Using vignettes to improve understanding of Social
Security and annuities. Journal of Pension Economics & Finance, pp.1-18.
Scheibelhofer, E. and Holzinger, C., 2018. 'Damn it, I am a miserable eastern European in the
eyes of the administrator': EU migrants' experiences with (transnational) social
security. Social Inclusion. 6(3). pp.201-209.

Simpson, M., 2018. Assessing the Compliance of the United Kingdom’s Social Security System
with its Obligations under the European Social Charter. Human Rights Law
Review. 18(4). pp.745-769.