ASSIGNMENT 2

Analysis and Evaluation of the Contemporary Social Policy in UK

Assignment 2: Analysis and Evaluation of the Contemporary Social Policy in UK

Introduction

There have many changes in the social policies of the UK, primarily since 1997, when the New Labour came to power. Social policy is the study of the causes of social problems and the initiatives taken by the government as an attempt to reduce the impact of those problems. Mkandawire (2001) provides a comprehensive idea of what a social policy is concerned with suggesting that it involves collective interventions for the bringing in transformations in 'social welfare, social institutions and social relations'. Social policy is thus directed towards bringing equity and justice, and not just focusing on economic growth and it spends on areas such as health and education while emphasizing on measures that work at the group level rather than that of an individual (Kanbur, 2006, p. 3). In this regard, poverty reduction and inequality are also areas that come under the instruments that social policy addresses. Child poverty has been a major concern for the government since the time the New Labour came to power in 1997. Bradshaw (2011, p.28) states that one of the best measures of the success of governments is the extent to which children are protected from poverty. The purpose of this paper hence is to overview the policies related to child poverty that have emerged since the New Labour came to power in 1997 and to analyse and evaluate those policies using the UNCRC as an analytical tool since it provides a comprehensive picture of the needs of a child.

Child Poverty Problem

Reducing child poverty is an important step in the direction of improving the lives of the disadvantaged people in the society. It is important here to first define child poverty according to what is understood by the government for its defining of measures. According to the DWP (2007) report, a child in poverty is one who lives in a family that has resources that are relatively lower than those of average; consequently they are not able to participate in society. Furthermore, it also implies that the family will have access to services that are inferior including those of poor quality of housing and neighbourhoods and lower level of economic resources. According to the report, no work is major cause of poverty and a little more than half of the children in poverty belong to families whose members are workless. Around 2/5th of the children in poverty belong to families with single parent, out of which majority of them have no work. Near about 1/5th of poor children belong to families who are not employed. This though does not imply that working families do not have to experience poverty; there are many other factors apart from this that can be associated with a child living in poverty. These include large families, disability, housing and ethnicity as important characteristics in relation to child poverty (DWP, 2007, ...