SOCIAL ISSUES - government responses to inequality

Question 1

universal credit
PEE

Answer 1

• first legislated through the welfare reform act 2012
• rolled out in 2013
• support those on the lowest wage
• roles 6 legacy benefits into one > child tax credit , housing benefit , income support
• single monthly payment
• pushed those to become more confident with handling money
• since intro of UC there has been a rise in employment rates
  EG > -JRF highlighted in 2019 UC was likely to reduce the number of people in poverty in working households by 300,000

Question 2

universal credit
REE

Answer 2

the government has faced alot of criticism due to the slow roll out
- gov aimed to have all 8 million in and out of work households that were recieving the previous benefits onto the new system by 2017.
- June 2017 only 540,000 people receiving the benefit
- Jan 2022 there were 5.6 million people on UC
- 2022 report by trussell trust also showed that 56% of people on UC were going without one essential to keep them warm,fed & clothed
- not doing enough
EG > 40 % said they had fallen into debt as a result of the cuts to UC in autumn 2021

Question 3

national living wage
PEE

Answer 3

• aims to increase wages for the lowest income workers
• con part introduced the national living wage for over 25s in 2016
• aim of reaching 60% of the median UK earnings by 2020
• the success of the policy has allowed the NLW to become a flagship con policy over the last decade
• successfully targeted groups in society that are known to suffer from inequality > women
• seen as being extremely successful in retail , hospitality and healthcare
• these are areas associated with women workers (5cs)
• 1 in 10 women are on what is considered to be minimum wage so yearly rises in the living wage will support their income
  EG > as women account for 59% of low paid jobs this will help to tackle the gender pay gap

Question 4

national living wage
REE

Answer 4

• cannot be classed as a ‘living wage’ if it is calculated using the median income in the UK
• wages are not representing of the rise in cost of living
• how can it be called the living wage if you can’t live of it
• led to the term ‘real living wage’ being used
• currently over 14,00 businesses hav signed up to the real ling wage and pay their employee , voluntarily a wage that is used by calculating the actual cost of living
  EG > NLW in 2023-24 was £10.42 Vs RLW £12

Question 5

scottish child payment
PEE

Answer 5

• in 2017 the sco gov introduced and passed the child poverty scotland bill
• received unanimous support in parliament
• main goal of this policy was to reduce child poverty by setting legally binding targets
• by 2030/31 it aims to see less than 10% of children in Scotland living in poverty
• works as a top up benefit targeted at lower income families and provides £25 a week for those with children under the age of 16
• no limit on the number of children eligible per family inline the UK gov which has a 2-child limit cap
• sco gov concluded that the Scottish child payment could lift 50,000 children out of poverty by the end of 2023/24
• praised for raising the level of support from £10 per week to £25 in 2022
  EG > success of this is likely to reduce the child poverty rates in Scotland by 5 percentile points

Question 6

Scottish child payment
REE

Answer 6

• the initial roll out and overall uptake of the benefit has been slow
• issues with communicating and advertising the child payment meant that in June 2021 only 77% of those legible were claiming the benefit
• equates to 1 in 4 not claiming the benefit who are entitled to
• mixed success behind the focus of reducing child poverty
• the sco gov has said the policy is likely to reduce poverty by 5 percentile points > not happened
  EG > child poverty action group concluded that between 2019-21 the actual child poverty rate in Scotland remained at 24% for all children showing little to no progress

Question 7

minimum unit pricing

Answer 7

• 2012 the SNP passed legislation to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol in Scotland
• this currently stands at 65p per unit
• originally stalled by a legal challenge from the Scottish whiskey association > passed into law in 2018
• designed to specifically tackle the drinking culture in Scotland
• by making cheap alcohol more expensive they hope people will buy less
• alcohol in Scotland was too affordable prior to implementing minimum unit pricing
• in 2017 alcohol sold in the UK was 64% more affordable than it was in 1980
• an independent evaluation of MUP found that there has been a reduction in alchohol related deaths and hospital admissions
  EG > deaths caused by alcohol has dropped by around 13% and hospital admissions are down 4.1% with the largest reductions seen among men and those living in the most deprived areas

Question 8

minimum unit pricing
REE

Answer 8

• policy can be seen as taxing the poor as it increases the cost for lower priced items and doesn’t impact more expensive alcohol
• although there is a link between alcohol related issues and deprivation it could be argued that this is not actually challenging the drinking habits of all in scotland
• in the case that poorer individuals are continuing to drink similar amounts of alcohol this will only widen inequality and poverty
  EG > study by the institute of alcohol studies concluded that 20% of those drinking at the most harmful levels reduced spending on other areas including food to fund their drinking habits