Social Welfare And Social Exclusion - Essay Example

This was the most generous kind of policy in terms of monetary benefits as it compensated disabled individuals in addition to their other earnings and incomes. In general, the all the inclusion policies for the disabled in UK had the objectives including Compensatory benefits, Earnings replacement benefits, Extra costs benefits and Means-tested benefits (Berthoud, 1998),. The Earnings replacement benefits with the objective of earnings replacement provide an individual who is unable to work and earn, with an earning so as to monetarily compensate his/er status of occupational exclusion.

The major disability benefits with this objective are Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), Incapacity Benefit (IB), and Severe Disablement Allowance Invalid Care Allowance (ICA). As of the benefits currently applicable in UK, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) are inculcated with the objective of Extra costs benefits. (Gilson & DePoy ,2002). This aims at helping the disabled meet the extra costs that are recurred due to the disability. The benefits with the objective of Means-tested benefits include Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Income, Supplementary Benefit (SuppBen), Disability Working Allowance (DWA) (Gilson & DePoy ,2002).

These benefits supplement the income of a person so as to equal a minimum level of income as set by the government according to specific norms. However, except the Disability Working Allowance, other benefits with this objective are not specifically for the disabled but are generically applicable to them. The first benefit which distinguished disabled from other socially excluded classes of the population was the earning replacement benefits which were introduced in 1971 (DSS, 1998b).Prior to that people who were not working due to disability were considered for inclusion along with other non-workers.

In 1976 Invalid Care Allowance was also introduced which offered allowances for the acre takers of the disabled.(Evans, 1998). An effort to connect the policy interventions in relation with social theories of exclusion and welfare was initiated in 1968 when the social costs of disability was calibrated and accounted as extra costs benefits. The survey then conducted by Office of Population and Surveys revealed that there were 3 million disabled adults in the country and related disability to a number of social issues other than poverty (Harris,1971).

Further analysis of this survey in 1980s it was concluded that despite the implementation of a number of disability benefits, there was a disparity in the horizontal equity between the non-disabled and disabled (Martin& White, 1988). However, the extent of disability and the extent of its social cost were not considered even then. Addressing this issue, the government, in 1990, brought in acute changes in the entire philosophy of welfare of the disabled. The philosophy of “welfare of work” based on the principle of “work for those who can and security for those who cannot” was embraced by the government (DDS, 1998a).

The key changes that happened due to this were reforms relating to Incapacity Benefit (IB); Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA); and also changes to ‘extra costs’ benefits such as Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and disability premiums on Income