Analyzing Changes to the UK Welfare System and Social Justice Theories

This essay provides a critical analysis of the changes implemented in the UK welfare system since 2010, focusing on their impact through the lens of social justice. The essay explores various reforms, including changes to housing benefits, employment support allowance, and benefit caps, and assesses their effects on different segments of the population. It examines these changes in relation to two prominent theories of social justice: Marxism and Rawls' theory of justice. The essay discusses the core tenets of each theory and applies them to evaluate the fairness and effectiveness of the welfare reforms. It also considers the advantages and disadvantages of the welfare system, such as improved healthcare access and potential fraud risks. The analysis highlights the implications of these reforms for equality, poverty reduction, and social stability, providing a comprehensive overview of the UK's evolving welfare landscape.

Social Justice Essay

Critically analyzing changes to welfare system in the UK since 2010 in relation to at least
two theories of Social Justice
Social justice is the concept which is used to represent the fair and effective relation
between the society and the individuals who are part of society. It is broadly measured by the
terms of the wealth distribution, opportunities for social privileges and personal activity. The
concept of social justice in whole world is, individuals who address their rights and initiate their
roles and responsibilities towards the society and in return receive whatever they due from the
society. Social justice is a huge concept and it revolves around receiving justice in terms of
wealth distribution, opportunities and all the other kinds of privileges within society. It helps in
ensuring the equal rights and facilities to each and every individual of society. It is the concept
which does not lay emphasis upon the religion, caste, culture, tradition, race or gender. It is the
concept which is applicable to each and every unit of the society to remove any kinds of
discrimination that occur in the world. In every major religion, there is minimum one social
justice body(Edwards, 2015). .
There are various types of people who have different point of views regarding the social
justice. Their facts do not match with each other but they all share a common aspect of the ideal
world which is not dominated by the caste, culture, race, religion or gender based discrimination
at any level of the society. In United States, there is the demand for various kinds of the reforms
regarding the criminal justice body, discrimination against women, the poor and the black
people. Social justice is the measure which is used to provide better functions to the society. It is
the tool that helps in turning lives of the people who live in the society. It also helps in managing
and handling poverty of the country. It is the measure which is used to evaluate the problems
that are being faced by the members of the society. It provides the equality to all the people of
this society. this provides the rights to each and every person, globalization and
internationalization is the process which provide various kinds of benefits to the person and at
the same time it also provided employment facilities to millions of people(Ellison, 2016).
Social justice is the concept which is used to provide justice to all the people in terms of
equal wealth or any other kind of discrimination that occurs in the society or the opportunities
that can be addressed by the each and every person of the society. Inequality not just lead
towards the decline in the productivity but also spread poverty within the country, social
instability is the major reason behind the conflict and disputes in individuals lives. Social justice

is the form, through which government can comprehend the various measures that can help the
society in reaching the point where there is no discrimination in the society at any level on the
basis of caste, religion, culture, race or gender. Since 2010, welfare reform has been central to
the policy of the United Kingdom government, the defining feature of the contemporary United
Kingdom policy of government is Welfare reform. The Welfare Reforms implemented in the
United Kingdom between 2010-2015,
Housing Benefit (local housing allowance):
Changes towards renting strategies followed by bodies with the cost of houses for people who
belong to low income backgrounds in private as well as rented sector.
Housing Benefit (under-occupation in the social rented sector):
New measure are initiated for the governing of the size of the properties regarding which there is
need to make the payment to working age candidates. There is need to implement the new
strategies and policies which are related to the members of the working age group regarding their
payment and properties.
Non-defendant deduction:
Deductions are increased from income based benefits to highlight the contribution that has been
made by the members of the household that is expected to make towards the housing expenses of
the household cost.
Benefit cap:
A new ceiling is applied on total payments as per the house hold, that can be applied to the sum
of wide range of benefits for the unemployed candidates of the working age.
Council Tax Support:
The entitlement of working age candidates has seen a reduction of approximately 10% as per the
overall payments to the local authorities.
Personal Independent Payment:
By Personal Independent Payment phased replacement of Disability Living Allowance for
candidates of working age; allows more reliable medical tests.
Employment and Support Allowance:
Replacement of Incapacity Benefit (IB) and related benefits by Employment and Support
Allowance (ESA), with more stringent medical tests, greater conditionality, and time‐limiting of
non‐means tested entitlement for claimants in the Work‐Related Activity Group

Child Benefit
Tax Credits
1% up rating.
Welfare system is used to evaluate the needs and the of the individuals and the families
who require assistance. The time and amount involves depends upon the region, state or the
country. These welfare systems provide assistance in the from of programs and various other
methods are implemented like health care, food stamps, compensation regarding
unemployment , child care as well as housing assistance. The facilities and services provided to
them depends upon the state or the region. Other factors that can be considered are; total
numbers of members in the family, level of current income and assessed disability. In each
region of the country the significance of welfare system is different, but the services provided by
them are quite similar from one another, this often creates the situation of the confusion while
comparing the program of one stare with the another. Social justice is very broad concept as it
revolves around the many aspect of the society like equal opportunities to all regarding the
wealth and other benefits that occurred in the society. Social justice is the method which is used
to evaluate the working of the country by analyzing that the society is free from all the kinds of
the discrimination at each and every level, it is not affected by the measures of caste, culture or
any negative aspect of society(Richard, 2017). .
There are several advantages of the welfare system:
 It improves access to health care : For the continued success of the American society it is
very important to provide equal rights and opportunities to each and every individual of
the society. Health is very important and essential aspect of every one life. Remaining
healthy is difficult for the one who is unemployed and does not any kind of the
resources , such people have difficult time in obtaining good health insurance as well as
those are physically disable.
 It fulfills various kind of specific and important needs of the children: It is very essential
for the parents to take the effective responsibility of there children so that they lead a
healthy and happy lives. They don't deserve to live a life where there is no proper food,
shelter and basic facilitates are not available for them, thus it helps in providing some
basic kinds of needs to the unfortunate children in order to keep them healthy and happy.

 It helps in reducing the rate of crime: Attributing crime rates by using any kinds of
policies and strategies is difficult as it involves several numbers of government policies
and norms, in most cases an individual choose the oath of crime when there basic needs
and requirements are not get fulfilled, well this is the one aspect, it states that welfare
system can effectively helps in reducing the crime rate within the country (From Welfare
State to Welfare System, 2016). .
While on the other hand the disadvantages of welfare system are: There are various kind of the fraud risks associated with it : There are many recorded
reports and cases which states that welfare program are exploited by various units.
 Under some circumstances it make people dependent : It allows the people to re3ceive
money without doing any kind of specific work or activity this encourage the dependency
of the individual upon others from money or any other kind of the resources, such
individual never want to do any kind of the handwork to earn money and basic facilities
of the lives.
Illustration 1: Welfare Spending in United Kingdom

Illustration 2: Welfare spending in United Kingdom- real times

Theories of Social Justice
Illustration 3: Gross household saving, United Kingdom
Illustration 4: Social Protection Spending, United Kingdom

Marxism:
This theory states that social justice is the idea which is evolving year after through ages, it
varies from one age to another based upon the economic relations, the structure of the economy
plays very vital role in the establishing and maintaining the social justice. Marxist ethics first
associate the justice concept with in the liberating society and exploiting classes. This theory
analyze the requirement of fulfilling the material needs of the individual in order to explain the
social aspect that are present within the society (Edwards, 2015).
Rawls Theory of Justice:
It is the theory if justice which is given by John Rawls it is deliberately based upon the ethics
and political philosophy, in this theory the authors initiates a step to solve the problems that are
associated with the problem of distributive justice. It is the theory of justice and fairness, which
constructed the principles of justice to provide governance to the modern social order. He was
the American Political philosopher, in his theory he sates that each and every citizen of this
world is free and has equal rights and opportunities within the society.
A sense of justice is the capability of the one to understand the the rights and various
norms of the individual in order to act with in the public conception of justice. While on the
other hand the conception of the good lay emphasis upon the important aspect of the individuals
lives. This theory states that each individual has the equal rights and opportunities to the most
extensive total system of equal basis liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all.
And it also states that Economic and social inequalities are need to satisfy two conditions, to be
attache to the position open to all under conditions of fair and equal opportunities ad to give the
greatest output expected benefit to the least advantaged members of society. Social justice is the
concept, which is used to represent the fair and just relation between the society and the
individual. A sense of justice is the capability of the one to understand the the rights and various
norms of the individual in order to act with in the public conception of justice. While on the
other hand the conception of the good lay emphasis upon the important aspect of the individuals
lives. It is broadly measure by explicit and tacit terms for the wealth distribution, opportunities
for social privileges and personal activity. The concept of social justice in whole world is that
individuals are addressing there rights and initiating there roles and responsibilities towards the
society and in return receive whatever they due from the society. It is very essential for the

parents to take the effective responsibility of there children so that they lead a healthy and happy
lives(Kitzie, 2017).
It is the measure which is sued to evaluate the problems that are being faced by the members of
the society. It provides the equality to the all the people of this society, this provides the rights to
each and every person, globalization and internationalization is the process which has provide
various kinds of benefits to the person and at the same time it has also provided employment
facilities to million of people. Marxist ethics first associate the justice concept with in the
liberating society and exploiting classes,Health is very important and essential aspect of every
one life. Remaining healthy is difficult for the one who is unemployed and does not any kind of
the resources(Taylor, 2017). The time and amount involves depends upon the region, state or the
country. Welfare system is used to evaluate the needs and the of the individuals and the families
who require assistance These welfare systems provide assistance in the from of programs and
various other methods are implemented like health care, food stamps, compensation regarding
unemployment , child care as well as housing assistance. In each region of the country the
significance of welfare system is different, but the services provided by them are quite similar
from one another, this often creates the situation of the confusion while comparing the program
of one stare with the another. The facilities and services provided to them depends upon the
state or the region. Other factors that can be considered are; total numbers of members in the
family, level of current income and assessed disability. Social justice is very broad concept as it
revolves around the many aspect of the society like equal opportunities to all regarding the
wealth and other benefits that occurred in the society. Social justice is the method which is used
to evaluate the working of the country by analyzing that the society is free from all the kinds of
the discrimination at each and every level, it is not affected by the measures of caste, culture or
any negative aspect of society(Edwards, 2015).
From the above essay it can concluded that justice and the rights are the most important
aspect of the society, and social discrimination is very harmful aspect of the country as it spreads
the poverty, and many other negative thoughts in the mind of the individuals. Social justice is the
policy which is used to provide various kinds of benefits to the individuals. It is the measure
which is used to lay emphasis upon the rights and justice of the people who are part of these
society it states discrimination should not be occurred in the society at any level based upon
caste, culture, race, religion, gender or any other negative aspect of the society. Justice is the

term used to determine the fact that each ad every individual of this society has equal rights and
opportunities to represent there point of view and enjoy the various kinds of benefits within the
society. It is broadly based upon the facts and figures of the norms and regulations provided by
the government in order to identify the occurrence of the discrimination at any level of the
society. Fairness and justice are two inter related and interlined aspect of the culture and the
society which lay emphasis upon the social contradicting traditions of the internal and external
environment of the society.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Edwards, C., 2015. Dialogue on Diversity Teaching: Reflections on Research, Pedagogy, and
Passion for Social Justice• Katherine M. Acosta. In Challenges of Multicultural
Education. (pp. 28-46). Routledge.
Ellison, N., 2016. Work and Welfare: The Rights and Responsibilities of Unemployment in the
UK. In The Politics of Unemployment in Europe. (pp. 67-80). Routledge.
Kitzie, V. L., 2017. Engaging at the margins: Theoretical and philosophical approaches to social
justice. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 54(1).
pp.574-577.
Richard, J. A., 2017. Equality and equal opportunity for welfare. In Theories of Justice. (pp. 75-
91). Routledge.
Taylor, P., 2017. The UK welfare state system. The Routledge International Handbook to
Welfare State Systems. Abingdon. Routledge. pp.191-202.
Online
From Welfare State to Welfare System. 2016. [Online'. Available through : <
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/from-welfare-state-to-welfare-system >