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Social Security in Britain and Certain Other Countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

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Extract

The present paper assembles some basic facts for assessing the social security system of this country. There is no absolute criterion for judging the adequacy of the provision for relieving poverty and insuring against interruption of earnings. But comparison with arrangements in certain other countries may suggest fruitful ideas for improvement. The British system of social security is at present radically different from, and the benefits provided on the whole considerably less generous than in most West European countries. In the following section we describe first the origin and main features of the British system as it has developed since the last war and then compare it with arrangements in the Common Market and certain other countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 33 , August 1965 , pp. 48 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © 1965 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

This article was prepared by Mrs. M. F. W. Hemming of the National Institute with research assistance by Brian Fall and Mrs. U. O'Shea.

References

Notes

note (1) page 48 Sir William Beveridge, Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, Cmd. 6404 (London, HMSO, 1942) p. 5, para. 3.

note (1) page 49 Sir William Beveridge, Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, Cmd. 6404, (London, HMSO, 1942) p. 141, para. 369.

note (1) page 50 Dudley Seers, The Levelling of Incomes since 1938, Oxford Institute of Statistics, p. 21.

note (1) page 52 R. G. D. Allen, ‘Movements in Retail Prices since 1953’, Economica, Feb. 1958.

note (2) page 52 T. Lynes, National Assistance and National Prosperity, Occasional Papers on Social Administration, no. 5, (Welwyn, Codicote Press, 1962).

note (3) page 52 B. Seebohm Rowntree, Poverty and Progress, (London, Longman, Green & Co., 1941).

note (1) page 54 Sir William Beveridge, Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, Cmd. 6404, (London, HMSO, 1942) p. 154.

note (2) page 54 Report of the National Assistance Board, 1964, Cmnd. 2674, (London, HMSO, June 1965) p. 40.

note (1) page 55 D. Cole with J. Utting, The Economic Circumstances of Old People, Occasional Papers on Social Administration, no. 4, (Welwyn, Codicote Press, 1962).

note (2) page 55 M. Wynn, Fatherless Families, (London, Michael Joseph, 1964).

note (3) page 55 Reports of the National Assistance Board, 1958 and 1964.

note (4) page 55 Report of the Government Actuary on the National Insurance Bill, 1946.

note (5) page 55 A table on the financing of social security is given in the Report of the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, 1964, Cmnd. 2686, pp. 82-7.

note (1) page 57 The cost of benefits is influenced by variations in the incidence of unemployment and sickness and by the age distribution of the population as well as by the differing rates of benefit.

note (1) page 62 Sir William Beveridge, Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services, Cmd. 6404, (London, HMSO, 1942), p. 154.

note (2) page 62 P. Sargant Florence, ‘The Public Cost of Large Families’, Commonwealth Digest Supplement, (London, Laurence French, Dec. 1964).

note (1) page 63 Financial Statement 1963/4, (London, HMSO, 1963). It was estimated that increasing children's allowances from £100 to £115 for children under 11 (with corresponding increases to £140 and £165 for children 11-16 and over 16 respectively) would cost £41 million in a full year.