Social ServicesPublic and Private Sectors

Today social services are taken as given by most Britons, but they were actually acknowledged as social support for citizens only in the 1940s.

Social services deal with all main possible people’s problems such as health, unemployment, retirement, disability, household etc.

Health care may represent the most developed and complex governmental achievement in this field, named: National Health Service.

First hints of social help for citizens in troubles may be traced back to the Middle Ages, where only churches provided a basic support for the poorer.

Under queen Elizabeth I’s reign, the Poor Law was established to help the needy.

During the Industrial Revolution period, human conditions became harsher because of the work in factories.

The exploitation of the workforce created many health problems also connected to the poor hygienic conditions of the slums where most workers were bound to live.

The spread of epidemics forced the government to legislate a new law: the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834 in order to reduce taxes and guarantee some social relief to the disadvantaged.

A system of workhouses was also created to provide lodgings for the indigent. However these places were very disagreeable.

More awareness of social problems at the first decades of the 19° century got the situation better.

Reform programmes were introduced to re-organize health, pensions and the employment system.

The new model of welfare underlined the importance to establish a national insurance scheme in order to protect workers at the end of their activity with some benefits.

Household

Current statistics outline Britain as a country characterized by significant social changes.

Particularly concerning household, an ever increasing number of people decide to live alone.

First marriages are generally celebrated in a church while most remarriages are civil.

There is a high percentage of divorce and a single mother is not considered a taboo anymore.

Cohabiting couples (of the same gender too) now compensate the decline of marriage and are the picture of the most modern lifestyle.

Household constitutes a fundamental topic of any government policy.

In this respect, the Working Family Tax Credit as well as a Child Tax Credit provide some financial help based upon income.

In the past grants and loans were more easily released to families in need.

Nowadays any fund is instead applied more restrictively to prevent fraud.

The organization of state pensions and the distribution of welfare benefits always represent an uneasy task for any government.

The Conservative and the Labour show two opposite orientations towards this matter: the former emphasize the importance of personal responsibilty in the search of social needs to reduce public cost.

The latter believe in the introduction of other riforms to help families, reduce unemployment and poverty.