Welfare to Work and Principal Carer Parents - Literature review Example

Wеlfаrе to work and рrinсiраl саrеr раrеnts Name Institution Course Tutor Date Introduction The welfare recipients in Australia have been increasing rapidly with time because if increased number of people without employment. This issue has highly been affecting single parents, especially single mothers after leaving their families. The government of Howard came up with a policy to enhance employment of those who get welfare benefits in 2006. The improvement of welfare of the single parents would be of great impact in their lives and those of their children. This paper seeks to explore the “welfare-to-work policy,” its meaning, context, impact, options, and implications for social work. The paper considers publications about the policy in Australian context. Policy definition Welfare-to-work policy refers to the policy prepared to encourage the welfare recipients in Australia to get some jobs depending with their job training or qualifications. According to the argument put forth by Grahame and Marston (2012, p. 78), ‘Welfare to work policy’ was prepared by the government of Howard in 2006 and it was meant to encourage the unemployed Australians, as well as those other people getting the state benefits to put effort and look for jobs. They supposed to even go ahead and pay some fee to the employers in order to get jobs. As explained by Yunong, & Xiong, (2012, p. 42) welfare-to-work policy mean the responsibility of the unemployed who are of working age to have self-support in getting employment. The policy emphasizes on actively straining to get a job by one’s effort without waiting for the government to offer more help. This means that those depending on government welfare for lack of jobs will be in a position to meet their needs. Banks (2010, p. 2169) state that, the policy means that the government responsibility of offering welfare benefits to those not employed especially the single parents will reduce because majority of the unemployed will work hard towards getting themselves some employment through their effort depending with their training and qualifications. In the principle of care parents, the policy means that the responsibility of non-governmental organisations offering housing, as well as emergency relief will reduce because the increased number of single parents especially women seeking for assistance in the organisations will reduce. Newman (2011, p. 95) identifies that the welfare-to-work policy means that the government will realise an increased level of workforce participation and this will mean a great support to the economic growth, reduction of welfare expenditure, and increased social participation. Policy context The welfare-to-work policy and the principle of carer parent aims at encouraging the carer parents to get jobs through their skills and effort. The policy reforms were prepared by the Howard government in 2006 in Australia because of increased number of relief or welfare recipients. The number of single parents and mostly the single mothers had increased very much, thus leading to increased welfare expenditure. As articulated by Banks (2010, p. 2175), the single parents and mostly the woman will be productive in the workforce and they will stop depending on relief from the government and non-government organisations. The opportunity to participate in the workforce will enhance improved quality of life, earning of income, and self-reliance and personal freedom of the Australians. The social work in the non-government organisations will have to reduce because majority of welfare recipients will be in a position to meet their needs by creating and sustaining jobs. The increased reliance on relief affected the economy of Australia because the government was spending much to offer relief assistance to unemployment. If the number of employed people would increase, they will contribute to the economic growth since they will meet their needs and those of their children. The role of the educated social workers through the welfare-to-work programs entails offering relief to those seeking for help from the organisations. Deacon and Patrick (2011, p. 161) identify that, the carer parents are meant to secure themselves some sort of work in order to provide for their children and to stop depending on the government and non-government organisations for relief. As noted by Wright (2012, p. 310) seeking for employment might lead to payment of some fee to the new employers in order for one to get a good job and to retain the employment, but one has to be qualified enough to get a certain job. There will be engagement of stronger job search activities because of the increased demand in the labour market. The government and non-government organisations would be in a position to invest in other activities. Increased dependency would reduce and unemployed especially the carer parents will manage to provide for their children. Policy impacts The ‘welfare-to-work policy’ is associated with some impact in the labour market, Australian economy, non-government organisations, and social life in the society. Shutes (2011, p. 567) identifies that the policy would enhance many unemployed, for instance the carer parents to get jobs that will enable them earn some income. The issue of earning income from their employment will lead to improvement of the economy since they will meet their needs and the family needs and stop relying on relief assistance from the government and non-government organization. This means that the government and non-government organization will use the relief fund for other activities like offering assistance to the disabled. It will be possible for the carer parents to contribute to the government revenue through taxes. Cook (2012, p. 340) identifies that the policy will result to changes in the labour market because provision of employment will be through people’s effort in relation to their qualifications and payment of some fee to the employers in order to retain jobs. The number of working population will increase, thus reduction of salaries and incentives in the labour market. There will be impact in the activities conducted by the government and non-government organisations since the number of welfare recipients will reduce. The work of the social workers will reduce, as majority of the relief recipients will be able to meet their basic needs and offer support to their families (Newman, 2011, p. 102). The policy influences the social lives of the Australians because having personal freedom and income enables a person to interact freely with other people thus reduction of mental problems resulting from lack of employment. The poverty rate will reduce drastically because of majority of Australians having a source of income. There will be proper utilization of carer parents’ skills in the labour market. Policy options/alternatives The welfare-to-work policy is associated with a number of options or alternatives. According to Wright, Marston and McDonald (2011, p.304) in order to have effectiveness in the implementation of this policy, there will be the need of offering training sessions to some of the people especially the single parents who are not skilled or the ones with no qualifications to secure a job. This will enhance improved qualifications of the carer parents as they seek for employments. It is perceptible that improvement of job qualification means that a person will get a well paid job and get good earning from the job, thus improvement of the economy. This will require the Australian government to use the funds that was used to offer the relief to the unemployment in training and education expenses. The government will have to offer training to improve the skills and qualifications of the carer parents in order to enable them look for jobs and support their families. Encouragement of the unemployed to look for self-employment options by opening some businesses to support themselves and their families. This is an effective policy alternative since it will improve the freedom of the carer parents and the unemployed where they will get some employment and be in a position to offer employment to other people. As argued by Deacon, & Patrick (2011, p. 161), welfare policy needs offering all the required support to the unemployed by providing them with capital and allowing them to choose the best business activities that would be profitable. The need to find work will be enhanced through ensuring that there is no discrimination of people according to races, sex, or religion among other aspects. Employment should be offered according to people’s qualifications and experiences, as well as per the workload at the organisations. The single parenst should be offered jobs according to their qualifications and skills, as well as according to their ability to work effectively. There should be implementation of a policy against discrimination of workers in the companies in order to ensure that the carer parents benefit by getting jobs (Skivington, McCartney, Thomson, & Bond, 2010, p. 254). The Australian government might also look for projects to engage the carer parents in order to have paid work rather than relying on relief for their welfare. This is where the government introduced developmental projects like cleaning of the major cities, clearing of bushes along the roads, as well as planting of trees among other developmental and sustainable projects in the continent. The government will put aside some funds in order to pay the carer parents after conducting the activities in different projects (Wright, 2012, p. 321). It might also engage its citizens in different projects that are offered to foreign companies by ensuring that its citizens operate as assistants to the experts or the professionals in different projects. This will enhance improvement of skills and knowledge since they will learn through experience. These alternatives will meet the policy objectives in that they will enable those getting welfare assistance to have paid jobs and improve their economic and social welfare. The unemployed will be served with equity because there will be no discrimination. Implications of the policy analysis for social work The welfare-to-work policy analysis is associated with some implications for the social work (Summerfield, Young, Harman, & Flatau, 2010, p. 72). This is where the activities conducted in the non-government organisations will have to reduce drastically after welfare recipient number reduces. The status of the single parents or the carer parents is a major concern in the social work, as well as social welfare because social workers this is because they are among the non-government organisations clients who receive relief because of their needy cases. The responsibility of the social worker to offer social protection to the recipients of welfare will be ineffective because the social policy will enable the recipients to rely on their effort through the paid jobs (Breitkreuz, Williamson, & Raine, 2010, p. 55). The societal values will develop through implementation of the welfare-to-work policy since the social workers will have the burden of offering support services being minimized. The role of the social workers is redefined because of existence of tension in the traditional values of the social work through promotion of the autonomy and personal development, as well as utilization of the non-compliance sanctions. It is clear that Australian social workers get involved in the welfare-to-work programs where they engage in the welfare debated of reformation and work that is poverty related. The responsibility of the social worker in the support programs is devalued (Huber, Lechner, Wunsch, & Walter, 2011, p. 194). The role of the social worker changes from that one of providing relief to the one of improving people’s welfare through poverty reduction and allowing people to engage in improvement of their lives. The provision of welfare through the social workers would change to provision of workfare since the unemployed will be encouraged to seek for employment and support themselves rather than seeking for relief from non-governmental organisations (Caswell, Marston, & Larsen, 2010, p. 394). The future social workers will be offered a different kind of education to equip them with knowledge to provide workfare and not welfare to the carer parents. The workfare concept will support the social worker to enhance meeting of the social needs of the carer parents. The single parents will improve their parenting ability and the burden of the social worker to offer support to families will shift to the carer parents. Conclusion Welfare-to-work policy is a policy meant at encouraging the unemployed especially the single parents to seek for employment through paying fee to the employers and manage to meet the family needs. This policy was prepared by Howard government because of increased number of unemployed people seeking for relief. The policy aimed at improving the workfare of the unemployed Australians by engaging into paid jobs. The policy was implemented through supporting the unemployed to secure themselves jobs through training and provision of capital. The policy leads to improvement of the national economy, social relationships, as well as making carer parents to be responsible. This changed the role of social worker of providing welfare to providing workfare. Reference Banks, S. 2010. Integrity in professional life: Issues of conduct, commitment and capacity. British Journal of Social Work, 40(7), 2168-2184. Breitkreuz, R. S., Williamson, D. L., & Raine, K. D. 2010. 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