Similarities and differences in responces to social welfare in UK and France - Essay Example

Similarities and differences in response to social welfare in UK and France Introduction The response to social welfare and social work services in any country is determined by the social policy. The social policy includes the ways in which welfare is developed in a society, the policies of the government in the social welfare and the social protection of the citizens. Social welfare in the country is also determined by the social, political and economic conditions which shape the development of the social services and welfare in the country (Aluffi-Pentini and Lorenz 1996). Social welfare and social work services have traditionally focused on narrow social services which include health administration, social security, employment services, housing and community care management. However, over the recent past we have witnessed social work services being extended to emerging community welfare issues like crime prevention, disability, learning disability, old age, child protection, and poverty and gender empowerment. Social welfare generally refers to the people’s well-being and includes the range of services which are availed in different areas like sickness and old age (Adams, Erath and Shardlow 2001). In most European countries, social welfare is used interchangeably with social protection which is intended at protecting the minority and the disadvantaged in the society. Basic arguments for social welfare and social work service have being advanced like the democratic rights of the citizens to receive social services from the state, the humanitarian aspect and concerns about poverty, the religious point of view like mutual social responsibility and charity. Another argument for social welfare is the mutual-self interest where all the agencies have a duty to provide social services to the disadvantaged in the community. However, individuals against social welfare postulate that one has the right to utilize is property as they wish and that the rights of the individuals are paramount and should be protected hence redistributive arrangements are based in compulsion as people have not consented to welfare provision (Adams, Erath and Shardlow 2001). Welfare state involves the responsibility of the state for provision of the basic welfare means to the welfare of the citizens. It includes the government activities which are geared towards poverty alleviation, individual retirement benefits, housing and healthcare. The social policy is usually geared towards the redistribution of wealth in the country through taxes by progressive taxation and also maintaining minimum standards of living for the citizens. It also involves helping the disadvantaged social groups in the society like the minorities who include the elderly and the disabled in the society (Hugman 2010). In this research essay, we shall compare and contrast the development of social welfare and social work services in England and France. We shall also focus on how similar and differently the two countries have tried to address the problem of child protection. We shall further analyze the social, political and economic processes which affect the social welfare of each country and the globalization of the social welfare of these countries. We will briefly state the impact of EU level social policies and the European integration process and the problems brought about by migration and citizenship, changing family size, social exclusion and cohesion. Development of social welfare and social work services in England. The history of social welfare in England has its roots in the industrial revolution which altered the social lives. With the enactment of the poor law in 1601, the government of England committed to providing social services to the poor citizens by providing for compulsory poor rate, creation of overseers relief and the provision for setting the poor to work. The poor law commission stressed the workhouse test where there was no relief outside the workhouse and the eligibility principle. In 1942, Britain proposed national insurance system which was based on the family allowances, the national health allowances and the full employment. With the election of a labour government in 1946, there laws which were the 1946 national insurance Act, the National Health Service Act of 1946 and the national assistance act of 1948 were enacted. The children Act was another major milestone in the social welfare provision. After 1948, a welfare state was introduced which was different from the poor’s law which only catered for poverty. The key elements were social security, housing, health, education and the welfare of the children. The administration of the social welfare and social services in UK has undergone major reforms between 1960s and 1990s. In 1970s, the central government allowed the treasury to directly allocate resources to government departments and agencies in order to create efficiency in the administration of the social work services (Mansson et al. 2005). Examples of the agencies involved include the NHS trusts, department of health, the department of work and pensions, department of education, department of communities and local government and the ministry of justice. In 1990s, several adjustments were made with healthcare becoming the second major part of the welfare system. It covers the entire population and it is free to the people and it is financed by tax revenue. Education is also available to school children of the age of five to sixteen years. Education involves the central government which provides the legislative framework and the local governments which administer and organize the schools. Public housing is also provided mainly through council-owned rented housing and it’s based on the taxation subsidy system. The UK welfare state consists of guaranteed minimum standards of living including the minimum income and the social protection in case of insecurity. The welfare system also has provisions for services at the best attainable standards (Lorenz 1994). In France, social welfare is based on the principle of national solidarity which is based on the first article of the French code of social security. It involves mutual support of friendly communities and societies. The French social welfare system is complex in nature and has become expensive with pensions becoming a main problem due to special privileges to certain groups (Pringle 1998). Social welfare in France Different traditions, revolutions, monarchies and religion have shaped the French social welfare. Napoleon was the first to implement social welfare system. The popular Front government in 1930 expanded the public services and increased the political participation of the citizens. The current social welfare system includes health care which was a social service system developed in 1945 but it became expensive because it included the social insurance schemes and public assistance of the citizens. The citizens contributed directed to the scheme and their medical expenses were paid from the funds. In 1998, too many aged people demanding for medical expenses created a problem to the health insurance funds. The social welfare system also includes the pension system where both the employer and the employees contribute to a retirement fund for the benefit of the employer on retirement. Due to demographic changes on the low number of working citizens and the increase in the retirees the system has encountered problems (Pringle 1998). The social welfare also includes the family insurance system which is funded by the employer where the family will receive family allowances until the child is of the age of sixteen years. The housing system is also a family assistance program which provides housing subsidies for housing. Mortgages subsidies have also being introduced to encourage personal home ownership. The social welfare of France also includes the education system where resources are dedicated to improvement of the education standards in the country by the government. The country has also unemployment insurance which was introduced later where the citizens receive 35 percent of the previous income in case of unemployment. The government has also introduced state funded assistance to elderly people, the disabled and people who have experienced long term unemployment (Kohli and Mitchell 2007). Differences of UK and France social welfare systems The France social welfare is based on insurance scheme principle which prompted the government to introduce non-contributory state funded assistance to cater for the elderly and the disabled since they could not afford the insurance contributions (Pringle 1998). The UK model of social welfare is liberal in nature where the state provides social services from the government revenue which is collected from the taxes. The UK model provides certain minimum standards of social welfare which every citizen is entitled to from the government taxes unlike in France where benefits to the citizens correspond to the amount of personal contributions to the respective insurance schemes (Pringle 1998). In the UK, the corporate sector is actively involved in the provision of social services through the corporate social responsibility activities in poverty reduction and environmental protection. In France, the corporate sector is involved in activities like democracy, corruption prevention, ethical investments and promotion of peace which are not tied to core social welfare (Seibel and Lorenz 1996). Comparisons of the welfare states of UK and France There are different approaches which can be used to compare the social welfare systems of any two countries and the level of social work services. The first approach is the social policy while the second is the inputs in the social welfare which are the resources in the social welfare expenditure which are mainly determined by the structure of the population and the age of the social welfare system. We can also compare the benefits and outcomes of the social welfare systems and the production which include the rules and structures. The Luxembourg income study compares the social outcomes of the different social welfare states. Both countries have extended social welfare in education, healthcare and social insurance. In both countries, social services are extended to the minority like the state assistance to the disabled and the elderly population (Munday 2007). Factors affecting the UK and France economy The U.K economy has experienced an increase in the social welfare spending in the last few years. France has experienced the largest social welfare spending which is estimated to be over fifty percent of the GDP due to the decline in the number of working citizens who contribute to the social schemes and the increase in the number of retirees demanding social protection. The decrease in social welfare spending in UK is partly due to the recent economic recession which reduced the government revenue collection from taxes. Social welfare policy on child protection in UK and France France has ratified all the international treaties which deal with the rights of children. It has mechanisms of monitoring the 1989 convention of rights of children. Pregnant women are entitled to fully paid maternal leave and benefit from the public maternity insurance. Children receive free but compulsory preventive health services in a wide network of health facilities (Pringle 1998). The UK has a child welfare system under the local authorities. The Children Act of 1989 guides the child welfare services where the local authorities run adoption services. The services which are provided include family centers, respite care, counseling services, day care facilities and recreational activities. If the child stays at least three months from the family is entitled to NHS hospital care, residential school and independent hospital. Additional protection is awarded to disabled children through financial assistance (Pringle 1998). Effect of EU integration process on social welfare Social policy under the EU integration started with the Maastrict Treaty of EU though did not form part of the social charter. Social protocol provided that eleven of the twelve EU member states to provide similar social provisions for all the citizens. The EU embraces social dialogue which ensures social cohesion of the member states in the free movement of goods and labor. The EU has implemented social policies on the member states which aim at addressing the youth unemployment and lowering the tax rates. The EU has addressed the equal opportunities in gender and the rights of the disabled persons. The EU policies promote the divergence of social welfare through the democratic means in which the council which represents the member states makes a decision since it is done through a simple a simple majority (Payne, M and Askeland, G.A. 2008). The economic integration of the EU has being linked with the social policy since the competitive deregulation of the labor markets has forced citizens to migrate to countries where employers pay relatively higher wages. The national governments have been forced to expand their budgets on social welfare to avoid displeasure with the citizens which has helped improve the living standards of the citizens. Member countries which offer higher social benefits have also experienced new applications for social benefits mainly from citizens of the other member countries. The problem of migration has been experienced mainly by all the countries especially countries which have spend a lot of resources on education and training of manpower since there is no guarantee of any return on their investments in the sector. On the political front, the EU has promoted democracy through the EU parliament which emphasizes on the right of self-determination within the social system. Full harmonization of the EU level social policy may not be achieved due to different economic, social and political processes; a change in the structural and institutional welfare states that exist at the national level may create social instability and hostility from the citizens (Payne 2005). Social exclusion and cohesion Social exclusion is the changing factors which result in people being excluded from the normal exchanges and rights in the modern society. It focuses on several aspects like housing, education, health and poverty. Thus social exclusion occurs when individuals do not have those basic rights and hence risks discrimination. Globalization and structural changes like industrialization and the restructuring of the economic activities in the country may lead to social exclusion like structural unemployment and lower income levels. Social exclusion may also be brought y the national economic policies, the welfare provision measures and the rights of the citizens. National economic policies may lead to income growth in certain countries hence high standards of living and at the same time retard economic growth in other countries. Cultural and kinship relations may also lead to social exclusion in some communities. Social exclusion results from lack of employment opportunities fear of crime, poor housing, childhood deprivation, and disruption of families, inadequate health facilities, poor neighborhoods, inadequate education services and the barriers of the aged from living active and happy lives (MacMillanDominelli, Lorenz, and Soydan2001). The dimensions of social exclusion include the economic dimension whose indicators include the unemployment levels, income poverty and casual jobs. The social dimension of social exclusion is indicated by the crime levels, the unwanted pregnancies and the breakdown of traditional households (Hill 1991). Political social exclusion includes the low voter registrations, the lack of political and voting rights, disempowerment and social disturbance. The individual social exclusion includes the mental and physical health levels, academic attainments and the self-esteem in the society (Healy 2001). In the community, social exclusion include environmental degradation and pollution while at the group level social exclusion will be indicated by particular groups like disabled, the aged and racial groups which may be alienated (Dominelli 2007). EU integration policy and response to social welfare The European Union has developed key policy guidelines which deal with social cohesion. The EU has recognized that the basis of successful social cohesion strategy is improving the skills and the capacity of the member countries to respond to new demands of the social welfare of the citizens. The EU has moved away from the notion of categorizing people as the social welfare recipients however certain emerging trends have affected the social cohesion and includes immigration processes, the changing demographics like the family sizes and the ageing population, the new emerging forms of poverty like the urban poor and the working poor (Cerami et al. 2009). Another factor which has impacted on the social cohesion is the change in the economic environment which has affected the employment levels in the countries. The EU has enacted policies on advocacy of health participation of the vulnerable groups in the society and the empowerment of the minority (Castles 2000). The EU has established relationships with national bodies and commissions which foster the implementation of values of social cohesion. The EU social policies engage in redistribution especially the Common Agriculture policy (CAP) which helps in subsidizing farmers while at the same time providing regional development aids to the rural areas (Dominelli and Thomas 2003). The EU has proposed guidelines on issues such as discrimination, injustice, stigma and emerging social phenomena. The EU has laid out the standards and quality of education which each member country should compulsory provide to its citizens. However, some member states have kept the social policy on education, health care and retirement at the national level while at the same time increasingly retaining only a semi-sovereign control over the social policy in areas like the ageing population, the globalization and the economic integration. Since the EU social policy enjoys a lot of political and social support from the citizens, member countries will be obliged to fulfill the key EU policies on social welfare (Cannan, Berry and Lyons 1992). Globalization The term globalization is used to refer to the interconnectedness of societies internationally. Globalization has being facilitated by the electronic communication, the increase in global travel, immigration and international trade. Globalization has significantly affected the provision of social services due to citizenry requirements in some countries. The impact of globalization on social welfare and social work services can be analyzed from the economic, political and social dimensions. Economically, globalization has constrained the governments’ expenditure on social services. Another impact is the demographic and social changes where low birth rates resulting to smaller families and the ageing societies in most countries. The smaller families will result to lower government spending on social welfare where the government has state funded system but it will reduce the availability of adults who can take care of their ageing parents. Immigration which has being occasioned by movement of people across countries in search of better employment opportunities Conclusion Social welfare state in UK is liberal whereby social services are provided by the state from taxes which is quite different from France where personal contributions in insurance schemes is used to cater for the individual social welfare. The EU has integrated the social policies whereby all member states are supposed to provide minimum social welfare to the population irrespective of the nationality of the person. Bibliography: Adams, A., Erath, P and Shardlow, S. 2001. Key Themes in European Social Work: Theory, Practice and Perspectives. Lyme Regis: Russell House Aluffi-Pentini, A. and Lorenz, W. 1996. Anti-Racist Work with Young People: European Experiences and Approaches. Lyme Regis: Russell House Cannan, C, Berry, L &Lyons, K. 1992. Social Work in Europe Basingstoke: MacMillan. Castles, S. 2000. Ethnicity and Globalisation. London. 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