Health and wealth – Prelim revision

1. Health and wealth – Prelim revision Critically examine the success of recent government policies to reduce poverty

2. Essay plan • Take each group and assess government policies to help them • Or • Take the reforms and assess their effectiveness

3. Children Start each paragraph with the evidence of poverty (1-2 sentences) E.G . The problem of child poverty in Britain, despite the efforts of the previous Labour government has gotten worse, according to a Save the Children report in 2012, 1 in 8 go without a hot meal a day. 1 in 7 without a winter coat, 38% of children in families with 3 plus children. 2.8 million living in poverty, in Scotland – 25% of 3 and 4 year olds in persistent poverty

4. Policies to help children UK • Child Benefit (Under 16 or in FT education training, household income no more that £49,999 • Child Tax Credits, • ‘Sure Start’ programme, universal, free, part-time nursery education for 3 year olds. Scotland • Childcare Vouchers, • Free nursery places for 2 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds • Free School Meals for working families on low incomes • Tackling pay inequalities via ‘Living Wage’ for Scottish Government employees.

5. Effective? No • Jan 2013: Families with two children in Scotland will be more than £1,100 worse off over the five years from 2011 to 2016 due to UK Government Child Benefit cuts. • Child benefit freezes and below inflation rises will see household income for a family with two children cut by over £1,100, a family with three children cut by over £1,500 and a family with one child by over £650. • If one person in the household earns over £50,000 child benefit is cut. • Coalition Gov’t not aiming to reduce but pledged not increase child poverty.

6. Effective? No • National initiatives may be less successful at local level – funding etc. • Childcare costs in Scotland higher than in England - 25 hours of care over 50 weeks at the most expensive, costing £11,688 • Scottish Government plans to offer free childcare to looked after children in Scotland but this is only 1% Scottish Lib Dems calling for them in Jan 2013 to extend this to all disadvantaged children. • Jan 2012 Scotland has 13 of its 32 councils with over 30% child poverty. On average 20% of children in Scotland in poverty.

7. Effective? Yes • Free nursery places helping in Scotland. Early learning and childcare opportunities for vulnerable two year olds will be expanded following an investment of £1.5 million a year over the next three years from the Scottish Government.

8. Evidence of poverty: lone parents • 57% of working-age lone parents are working, up from 51% a decade ago. • 600,000 lone parents relying on Income Support • 143,645 JSA Lone Parent claimants at September 2012. This is an increase of 21,950 from September 2011

9. Policies to help lone parents • New Deal Lone Parents • Child Tax Credit • Working Tax Credit • Universal Credit

10. Effective? No • NDLP not compulsory • The government's welfare reforms and the introduction of the universal credit will make up to 150,000 of the country's poorest single parents up to £68 a week worse off, potentially pushing 250,000 children further into poverty. According to Save the Children

11. Effective? Yes • After 6 months 43% of NDLP participants had a job. • DWP argues “the truth is 600,000 lone parents will be better off under a system which will incentivise work and make work pay,"

12. Policies to help: the elderly • 1 in 5 pensioners at risk of poverty, 2 million according to ONS

13. Government policies to help UK • State Pension • Pension Credit • Winter Fuel Payment • Cold Weather Payment • Housing Benefit • Council Tax Benefit • New Deal 50 Plus • Free TV license over 75 Scotland • Free Bus Pass over 60s • Free Prescriptions

14. Effective? yes • Simplification of the state pension that will be introduced for new pensioners from 2017. The new rate, set above the basic £142.70 level of the means test and well above the current basic state pension of £107 a week, will be a vast improvement. • The government estimates that 750,000 women who reach pension age in the decade after the new system is introduced will receive an extra £9 a week. It says that 2.8 million receive a state pension of under £80 a week, compared with 474,000 men

15. Government policies to help: unemployed • 1 in 5 18-24 year olds out of work • November 14 2012 unemployment rate stands at 7.8% - down 0.2% over the quarter and 0.4% over the year. • 223,000 for Scotland 8.2% of nation

16. Effective? No • Fuel Allowance has been reduced - Pensioners will lose up to £100 in winter fuel payments in 2011, despite gas and electricity bills continuing to rise. • Age of eligibility for state pension increasing for women from 60 to 60-65 and men 65- 66. • Women will suffer because pensioners will have to make national insurance contributions for 35 years, rather than the current 30, to benefit from the new pension.

17. Government policies to help: The Unemployed • Jobseekers Allowance £71 • Jobcentre Plus • Pension Credits • Winter Fuel Payments

18. Effective? yes • Universal Credit - Plan is to help those in work receive more than those who are on benefits. • Encourages long term unemployed back into work. • Simplifies system and cuts costs.

19. Effective? no • JSA not enough to lift unemployed above poverty line – using relative consumption it is half of what it was 30 years ago. • Unemployed more likely than Lone Parents, sick or disabled to live in poverty • NMW doesn’t give unemployed an incentive to work as it is not enough to live above the poverty line. • Government have labelled their welfare reform as ‘striversvs skivers’ Many deem this an unfair label given the lack of employment opportunities in post-recession Britain.