effectiveness of benefit system

Question 1

child benefit

Answer 1

• amount paid is £20.70 per week for the eldest child and £13.70 for each additional child
• shows helpful as helps to tackle inequality as important to those who have a very low income and make big difference to the family income in a poor household
• benefit not paid in full to households with a high income, after £50,000 the amount of child benefit paid is reduced
• shows helps to reduce inequality as families on low income get more in benefit than high-income families

Question 2

pensions

Answer 2

• amount paid is £122.30 p/w for a single person.
• those with total income below £159.35 can also claim a benefit called Pension Credit – approx. 1.9 million claim this, up to 1/3 of people who are entitled are not claiming
• pensioner poverty has fallen dramatically; in 2003 it was 24%, but is now 16%
• shows gov’t policies, especially Pension Credit, have helped to tackle this inequality

Question 3

benefits cap

Answer 3

• introduced to make it impossible for those on benefits to have a higher income than those in work
• rate of the benefits cap was initially set at £26,000 and in 2016 was reduced further to £20,000
• gov says will make working more of an attractive idea and encourage less people to claim benefits
• however can cause further discrimination for single parents who now have smaller benefits and cannot manage to work