| Description |
1 online resource (284 pages) |
| Contents |
Front Matter -- Contents -- List of tables and figures -- About the author -- Preface -- Introduction: social security benefits in principle -- What is social security? -- Social security and the welfare state -- Social security and society -- The development of the system -- The origins of social security in Britain -- The politics of social security -- A unified system? -- Benefits -- National Insurance -- Means-tested benefits: the basic minimum -- Means testing: income supplements -- Non-contributory benefits -- Discretionary benefits -- Universal benefits -- Claiming benefits -- Understanding complexity -- The principal contingencies -- Pensioners -- Benefits for people with disabilities -- Incapacity -- Children and families -- Lone parents -- Unemployed people -- Benefits for the poor -- 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 -- Social security: a programme for reform -- Social security: sources of data -- Index |
| Summary |
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 |
| Notes |
In English |
| Subject |
Social security -- Great Britain
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Insurance -- Risk Assessment & Management.
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POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Social Services & Welfare.
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Social security
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Great Britain
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781447342854 |
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1447342852 |
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