Social Policy

• Child Benefit / Child Tax Credit:

  • Only one parent can claim the money
  • Must be main carer of the child (usually the mother)
  • Feminists argue that this reinforces the idea that money paid to the mother will be spent on children whilst men spend it on themselves
• Child Care:

  • Feminists argue that lack of funding for pre-school means that women are restricted from working
  • Governments can increase childcare funding to encourage more women to work
• Child Protection Acts (1989/2004):

  • Outlines the requirements of a duty of care towards children
• Compulsory Education:

  • School was made compulsory for children in the late 1800s
  • The school leaving age was set at 16 in 1973 and raised to 18 in 2013
• Equality Pay Act (1970):

  • prohibited unequal pay and working conditions between men and women
• Divorce law:

  • From 1857 men were allowed to divorce unfaithful wives whilst women could obtain a divorce when able to prove another matrimonial offence in addition to adultery
  • Grounds for divorce were equalised for men and women in 1923
  • The 1969 Divorce Law Reform Act widened the grounds for divorce and added the ability for couples to divorce without grounds as long as they lived apart first
  • From 2022 the law changed to allow 'no fault' and allowed couples to file for divorce jointly
• Marriage Tax Allowance:

  • Gave tax breaks to married couples when one partner does not work or is on a low income
  • Intended to recognise the contribution that married couples make to society
• Maternity Leave:

  • Usually more generous than paternity leave
  • Amount paid is low
  • Feminists argue that this increases female dependence on their males partners
• Same Sex Marriage:

  • Legalised in 2013
  • Prior to this gay couples could enter a civil partnership (introduced in 2015)
• Sex Discrimination Act (1975):

  • Extended the equal pay act
  • Aimed to ensure that all employees received equal opportunities of promotion and that their working conditions and training are the same regardless of gender or marital status
  • Job advertisements were required to be sexless and it was made illegal to offer a position exclusively for males and females
• Shared Parental Leave (2015):

  • Woman can now give some of their maternity leave to their partner making it easier for men and women to share childcare
• The British Nationality Act:

  • Allowed those living in the commonwealth countries British citizenship and full rights of entry and settlement and was intended to bring more workers into the country
  • This began the first mass immigration on non-white people into the UK
• The Welfare State:

  • A collection of social policies introduced post WW2
  • Brought about the NHS, an increase housing and unemployment benefit
  • Based on the belief that people should have the right to help when they are in need
• Troubled Families Programme (2011):

  • Brought in after the London Riots
  • Identified 120,000 broken families in need of support to turn their lives around
  • Each family was given a case worker who supported the family in getting jobs and attending school
  • The success of the programme has been criticised