How social security works
An introduction to benefits in Britain
- Author/Editor(s):
- Paul Spicker
- Format:
- Paperback
, 256 pages
, 240 x 172 mm
Other formats available - ISBN
- 9781847428103
- Published:
- 19 Jan 2011
£19.19 - List price: £23.99 You save: £4.80
North America customers can order this book here.
At last! A good, critical and up to date introduction to social security. It will be of enormous assistance to students, academics and indeed anyone interested in social policy.
Jonathan Bradshaw, Professor of Social Policy, University of York
About This Book
How social security works is an introduction to the much-misunderstood system of benefits in Britain. The book is an accessible, broadly based and sometimes controversial text which can help readers to make sense of the system in practice. It explains the guiding principles, outlines the social context, considers the development and political dimensions of benefits, and reviews how the system operates now. There are detailed discussions of the types of benefit, and the contingencies covered by the benefits system.Paul Spicker examines whether the system offers value for money, how it could be simplified and how it can be improved. The book will be useful to students on undergraduate and professional courses, but beyond that it will appeal to policy makers, practitioners and a broader general readership.
Contents
Part one: Introductory principles: What is social security?
Social security and the welfare state
Social security and society
Part two: The development of the system: The origins of social security in the UK
The politics of social security
A unified system?
Part three: Benefits: National Insurance
Means tested benefits I: the basic minimum
Means testing II: income supplements
The provision of non-contributory benefits
Discretionary benefits
Universal benefits
Claiming benefits
Understanding complexity
Part four: The principal contingencies: Pensioners
Benefits for people with disabilities
Incapacity
Children and families
Lone parents
Unemployed people
Benefits for the poor
Part five: Issues in social security policy: The cost of social security
Targeting
Fraud and abuse
Responding to poverty
Social security and redistribution
How social security in Britain compares to other countries.
Customers in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei must order from their local distributor