Personal Security and the 'Right' to Protection

Welfare organizations and social services deal with issues of personal security. They are involved in risk assessment and in the protection of individuals and families. However, their mission in this domain is not defined, and its boundaries are not set. The article discusses the right to personal security. The duty of the state to guarantee this right is stated by international declarations and conventions that were ratified by the United Kingdom, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights that was adopted into domestic English law. In the application of the right to personal security, and the state's duty to secure this right, two independent processes are taking place. First, in the United Kingdom, the English courts are reluctant to recognize an affirmative right to personal security and to impose on state and public agencies a duty to secure this right. Second, as in many other service areas, this duty is rendered to the community. It is vital for the social services to discuss this duty, especially when they are called to vouch for the personal security of individuals and families in the community.     

Back to Work after Incapacity Benefit: Differences between Ethnic Minority and Native Dutch Workers

Contemporary pleas for an activating welfare state and social security system emphasize that getting benefit claimants back to work is more important than providing income compensation for social risks connected with unemployment or illness. The Dutch system of incapacity benefits, however, is far removed from this normative ideal of a proactive social security system. Resumption of work after a spell of incapacity benefit is the exception rather than the rule. This article examines possible ethnic differences in resumption of work following incapacity benefit. We use a unique register data file from Statistics Netherlands that contains information about all incapacity benefit claimants in the Netherlands in 1999. In the analysis we follow these benefit claimants for three years and examine what their labour market position was in 2002. We find that resumption of work after incapacity benefit is even more the exception for migrant workers with a Turkish or Moroccan ethnic background. Contrary to our assumption, this difference from native Dutch workers cannot be explained by unfavourable personal characteristics of Turkish or Moroccan benefit claimants – their personal characteristics (gender, age, low educational level) appear to be rather favourable for resumption of work. In the current literature, these differences in outcomes between ethnic groups are often attributed to certain ‘ethnic‐specific’ or cultural factors. This article argues that we should be careful of explaining different outcomes between ethnic groups by (alleged) cultural phenomena. There are other explanations possible such as differences in work motivation, lack of ‘transition facilities’ in companies and differential treatment by employers or social security officials.     

Information technology in social security offices: Changing relations between caseworkers and clients

In this article possible implications of introducing information technology (IT) in social security administrations for their relationship with clients are discussed on the basis of a study on its effects in Netherlands municipal social services departments on clients'bureaucratic competence and caseworkers'discretion the accessibility and susceptibility of the administrations to the influence of clients, and the congruence in the definition of the bureaucratic situation by caseworkers and clients. Results show an increase in hierarchical authority and programming of work processes, a decrease in caseworkers'discretion and information monopoly, a growing discrepancy between caseworkers'and clients'definition of the bureaucratic situation, and an emphasis on verbal communicative aspects in the concrete interaction between the two. It is concluded that IT has paradoxical effects on the relationship between administrations and clients. On one hand the distance between them seems to diminish through an emphasis on direct, physical contacts with street-level officials. On the other, the accessibility and susceptibility of administrations to clients'influence seems to decrease because street-level workers become more embedded in the organization. It becomes more difficult for clients to bring their individual situation to the fore.     

The impact of the use of the social welfare services or social security benefits on attitudes to social welfare policies

Muuri A. The impact of the use of the social welfare services or social security benefits on attitudes to social welfare policies
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 182–193 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article investigates the attitudes of citizens and clients to social welfare services and social security benefits. The data come from a Finnish national survey conducted at the end of 2006. First, the article overviews the previous welfare‐state studies relating especially to the theoretical perspectives of self‐interest and legitimacy. The empirical analysis indicates (i) that a different operation of self‐interest can only weakly explain the differences in attitudes between services and benefits; (ii) that there is general support for Finnish social welfare services and social security benefits, which, however, is mixed with growing criticism among women and pensioners who are supposed to benefit most from the welfare policies; and (iii) that such determinants of attitude as gender, use and, to some extent, lifecycle have become as important as class‐related factors such as income and education.     

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): What's in it for Social Security?

This article explores the implications of the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) for social security. It examines what bearing the GATS has, or will have, on social security policy and administration and what the effects might be. These questions are explored through a review of legal, political and policy issues relating to the status of social security within the GATS and the consequences of applying the Agreement's provisions to social security. The discussion distinguishes between the supply of social security services on the one hand and access to and use of social security services on the other hand. It also distinguishes between substantive questions regarding the scope of the GATS and procedural issues regarding governments' scheduling practices. I argue that although the GATS does not yet have a direct material bearing on social security policy and provision, it may do so in the future. However, it is too early to ascertain what the nature or magnitude of the effects might be. More generally, the discussion highlights the difficulties of securing multilateral cooperation among countries with different levels of "development", strategic interests and priorities, and social security systems.     

社会公平保障体系研究:国外经验及对中国的启示

构建社会公平保障体系,既是建立和谐社会的要求,也是完善中国特色社会主义市场经济制度的题中应有之义。近年来,我国社会保障制度进行了相应的改革,并取得了一定成效。但从根本上说还不完善,影响了社会保障的公平性。我们党提出社会公平保障体系建设,为我国社会保障事业的发展指明了方向。结合国外经验,笔者认为我国社会公平保障体系建设包括:积极推进农村社会保障制度建设;加大社会保障对收入调节力度;加强社会保障的法制建设等。     

Social investment,social service and the economic performance of welfare states

This article begins with an examination of the role of social services as the key instrument of social investment strategy, presenting an empirical analysis of its impact on economic performance. A pooled time series, cross‐section analysis was conducted with the data of 15 welfare states from 1990 to 2007 under the ‘social investment hypothesis’ that more social service orientedness brings about a greater positive effect on the economy. The results show that a larger share of social service spending in the total social expenditure – more social service orientedness – contributes to economic growth and labour market performance, whereas a larger aggregate size of the welfare state may have a negative effect on employment. In conclusion, this study suggests that the relatively ambiguous welfare strategy of social investment could be clarified as a ‘transition from income security to livelihood security’ in which emphasis is placed on social service. Key Practitioner Message: ● This study suggests that the key instrument of social investment strategy is social service; ● The results show that more social service orientedness contributes to economic growth and labour market performance.     

Informal Economic and Social Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Most people think that there is no social security in sub-Saharan Africa, whereas a theoretical statutory social security is foreseen in quite a few African States. Since the 1960s, the first formal social security provision in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa was established mainly in the field of health services. Nevertheless, the situation is different in reality. The coverage rate is less than 10 per cent of the workforce. The majority of the population are excluded because they work in the informal sector. Formal social security systems are usually based on a labour-centred view, which is founded on formal employment and thus employment contracts. Legal restrictions, such as the exclusion of several categories of employees, and administrative and financial problems are primarily responsible for the low coverage rate. This situation has induced informal sector workers to create their own "safety nets". The integration of these existing informal social security schemes in a broader, pluralist approach to sub-Saharan social security seems necessary.     

Work incapacity and reintegration: Theory and design of a cross-national study

This article presents the theory and design of a prospective cross-national study on work incapacity and reintegration with cohorts of low back pain patients from Denmark, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The aim of the project, which is being coordinated by the ISSA, is to learn how social security, labour, and healthcare systems address problems of work incapacity and reintegration and to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions, incentives, and disincentives on return to work. The article includes discussion of common problems that motivated the sponsors to join the project, the benefit programmes and services currently available in the participating countries, the theoretical model for the research, the project's core research design, and some key elements of its methodology.     

Perceptions of Stigma and User Involvement in Child Welfare Services

Correspondence to Dr E. M. Scholte, Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences/Centre for Research on Youth Welfare, University of Leiden, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. Summary This paper explores the perceptions of social disqualificationor ‘stigma’ that service users attributed to publicchild welfare services in random samples of service users takenfrom the Netherlands, a part of Spain (Catalonia) and a partof the United Kingdom (Wales). It was found that, in all threesamples, foster and residential care invoked the greatest senseof stigma, while the health related and the preventive familyservices were perceived as the least stigmatizing types of publicwelfare services. Comparative analysis further revealed thata positive attitude towards the use of public welfare services,a perception of supportive or non-stigmatizing social normsregarding the use of such services, and a perception of publicwelfare services as helpful correlated in all three sampleswith higher levels of user satisfaction and involvement in theservices. It was further found that, in the British and Spanishsamples, a positive attitude towards public welfare services,as well as a perception of public welfare services as helpfulfor their recipients, were the predominating factors promotinghigher levels of satisfactory user involvement in the services,while, in the Dutch sample, a perception of supportive socialnorms was the factor that most promoted satisfactory user involvement.     

Objectives,Role and Functions of Social Welfare Services in Sweden

The assumption in the 1930s that poverty was the cause of all social problems was clearly not borne out in the Swedish experiment in creating social security through massive insurance and other programmes. The public debate from the middle of the 1960s has therefore been concerned with an examination and re-definition of the aims of social policies. The perception of the role and functions of the social welfare services consequently changed. In 1974 a Parliamentary Commission published its report on the principles the services should follow in the future. The report emphasizes that the social welfare services have a definite role in the restructuring of society, and it spells out ways in which this aim can be achieved.     

Social security coverage for couriers who work through digital platforms in Mexico: A role for a special scheme?

The socio-demographic characteristics of couriers who work through digital platforms in Mexico reveal that more than 85 per cent of these workers have completed full-time secondary education and 83 per cent of these workers are young (aged 14 to 44). However, only 25 per cent are covered for health services and social security benefits. Against this backdrop, and guided by international experience, we set out a proposal to provide these workers with a tailored package of social security benefits. The proposal would require to categorize couriers who work through digital platforms as “digital workers”, introduce a special scheme for these workers based on voluntary affiliation, and offer a specific portfolio of benefits.     

Social Support for Mothers of Children With Disabilities in China

ABSTRACT.

This article analyzes the gendered parenting experiences of mothers of children with disabilities in China. These mothers struggle to meet their children's needs, including daily care, financial security, and child development. In the context of China's social welfare development, are social services responding to their needs, so that mothers can share responsibility for the needs of their children with disabilities? The research analyzed qualitative data about 6 case-study children in rural and urban China. The data were derived from observation and interviews with their parents and other family and community members. The analysis revealed that the capacity of the mother, community, and local social services had an impact on the rights of the children and mothers. They experienced social discrimination, insufficient social support, and local failure to implement central policy social services and income support. These findings are consistent with international research about disability rights. They reinforce the importance of economic redistribution to enable local implementation of the national disability rights policies, rather than merely relying on ephemeral concepts of cultural change. Further research about the comparative impact of economic and social change in China on mothers and children with disabilities would extend these findings.     

The social and economic impacts of immigration detention facilities: a South Australian case study

The negative attitudes fostered by political rhetoric against asylum seekers create significant problems when asylum seekers are housed within communities. Much of the community's opposition focuses on the perceived economic and social impacts of large numbers of asylum seekers. However, we currently lack research on the local economic and social impacts of asylum seekers. As a contribution to this evidence base our paper outlines a South Australian case study of the impact of a low security immigration detention facility on the local economy, health services and social cohesion. Our impact assessment found that community concerns were not borne out. There were increases in employment and local expenditure, no reduction in health care services or access, and tensions between residents subsided, as did initially strong reactions against the asylum seekers themselves. The minimal impacts were due to the government and community interventions such as seeking local contracts and providing onsite health services. This case study is used to provide some guidelines for other communities to effectively target the fears that matter most to the community – either through disseminating information that reduces fears and myths, or through planning and interventions that minimise negative impacts and enhance positive benefits. In this way, the arrival of asylum seekers can potentially become one that benefits all community members.     

Performance Management,Caseloads and the Frontline Provision of Social Services

Caseloads and performance management are important working conditions of workers delivering public social services in street‐level organizations. The literature on these working conditions argues that high caseloads and performance management have considerable consequences for workers' performance in terms of the quality of services they provide and the results they realize. This article empirically investigates and compares these consequences, drawing on the results of a quantitative study of frontline workers in 14 local welfare agencies in the Netherlands. These workers are responsible for the delivery of welfare‐to‐work policies to social assistance recipients. The findings show that high caseloads do, indeed, have a detrimental effect on workers' performance, whereas the impact of performance management is more modest, though confirming some of the findings reported in other studies on performance management. The results also show that by focusing service provision on a proportion of their caseload, workers are able to reduce the negative impact of high caseloads somewhat. Overall, the article finds that the negative impact of high caseloads is more pervasive than that of performance management. The article concludes that the recent focus in the literature on performance management and its consequences for public services should not turn scholars' attention away from the ‘traditional’ public administration problem of high caseload sizes.     

Regional Welfare System Developments in Russia:Community Social Services

Micro-level studies of welfare service developments are largely absent from the literature on Russian social policy issues, which tends to concentrate on macro-level social security arrangements. This paper highlights the emergence of community-based social services in the post-1991 era, examining their development in two provincial Russian cities, based on an empirical study carried out in 1998. The paper adds to a growing literature which seeks to understand "welfare systems" from the perspective of welfare services as opposed to a social security or policy-based approach. It takes a user-group perspective on the services by looking at their use by, and relevance for, disabled children regarded as having learning difficulties, and their families. The empirical data indicate the shape of "new" services in the field sites, the means by which such institutions were maintained and their integration into the welfare sphere as a whole. Their development and maintenance at the local level is explained in part by socio-economic, political and administrative factors in these regions. By highlighting the various factors that help to maintain welfare provision and drive change at the local level, the case studies indicate the possible shape of future welfare developments in Russia as a whole.     

Linking Community Initiatives to National Institutions: Ghana

The ILO has developed an innovative concept of global solidarity for social security — the Global Social Trust — which supports the development of national social protection systems through international financing. The concept is ready to be tested nationally and the present paper proposes a pilot project for Ghana. The paper considers the virtues and weaknesses of developing-country social security healthcare systems and community-based voluntary insurance schemes, their lack of informal sector coverage on the one hand and their financial disequilibria on the other. It outlines the socio-economic and macro-policy context of Ghana and the current health policy environment. It argues for a fusion of the social health insurance and mutual health organization concepts in Ghana, thus linking community initiatives to national institutions, enhancing coverage and the quality of services for all. The paper outlines a basic model that could apply to Ghana, its organizational structure, practical functioning, financing arrangements and expected outputs. In particular it seeks to develop a model for the cross-subsidization of insurance premiums for the poor. It describes a concept that would combine local ownership initiatives with national responsibility and financing, arguing for a truly interrelated network of social protection. The authors welcome feedback and comments from the wider social security audience.     

Reconciling Cash and Care: Home Care Charges and Benefit Checks in Social Services

Correspondence to Pete Alcock, Health and Community Studies, Sheffield Hallam University, Collegiate Cresent, Sheffield S10 2BP Summary This article contains the report of a small research projecton the development of welfare rights checks for home care clientsin social services departments. Welfare rights take-up activityhas become an important feature of provision by local authoritysocial services departments, frequently targeted on particulargroups of clients known to experience problems in claiming fullbenefit entitlement. Users of home care services are such aclient group. Take-up work with home care clients is also, however,a product of the impact of community care policy changes andof financial pressures on local authority social services. Thesehave resulted in the introduction of charges for home care servicesby many authorities, and the use of rebates from such chargesto protect low income service users. Welfare rights work hasthus become an important feature of the reconciliation of thesenew charging policies with the continued service needs of poorhome care clients. The research examined a successful take-upinitiative, linked to home care charges, in Sheffield and contrastedthis with similar activities in other authorities throughoutthe UK. The conclusion is reached that levels of non-take-upof social security benefits are particularly low amongst homecare clients and that benefit checks can secure significantadditional income for them, which may also have the indirecteffect of increasing the income to social services departmentsfrom the charges for home care services.     

需求取向社区贫困家庭志愿服务的探索

贫困救助是我国社会服务的永恒主题,城市最低生活保障制度和农村五保制度为解决贫困问题提供了制度保障。但是,贫困是一个复杂的持续性的社会问题,社会保障政策的公共性与弹性要求以及社会的不断变迁,使得贫困救助需求的差异性和变化性难以得到有效满足。社区志愿服务以其贴近居民生活的服务特点,可以有效地填补社会救助政策的漏洞。本文描述了社区贫困家庭的现状及其特点,揭示了当前社区服务和社会政策存在的缝隙;立足社区贫困家庭的需要,提出了社区贫困家庭志愿服务应该提供的主要服务内容,寄望建设一个符合中国社会文化情境和具体家庭需求的社区贫困家庭志愿服务。     

需求取向社区贫困家庭志愿服务的探索

贫困救助是我国社会服务的永恒主题,城市最低生活保障制度和农村五保制度为解决贫困问题提供了制度保障。但是,贫困是一个复杂的持续性的社会问题,社会保障政策的公共性与弹性要求以及社会的不断变迁,使得贫困救助需求的差异性和变化性难以得到有效满足。社区志愿服务以其贴近居民生活的服务特点,可以有效地填补社会救助政策的漏洞。本文描述了社区贫困家庭的现状及其特点,揭示了当前社区服务和社会政策存在的缝隙;立足社区贫困家庭的需要,提出了社区贫困家庭志愿服务应该提供的主要服务内容,寄望建设一个符合中国社会文化情境和具体家庭需求的社区贫困家庭志愿服务。