Welfare reform in the USA and the UK: an interdisciplinary analysis
Lead Research Organisation:
Middlesex University
Department Name: Business School
Abstract
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Publications
Anne Daguerre
(2017)
Obama's Welfare Legacy
Anne Daguerre
(2015)
The Unemployed and the Moral Case for Benefit Sanctions
in Journal of Social Security Law
Daguerre A
(2013)
The new frontiers of welfare reform under the Presidency of Barack Obama
| Description | This comparative case study examined the ways in which socio-economic rights have been redefined in the USA and Britain during the 2008-2015 period. Welfare reform has become a catch all expression that encompasses various attempts to redesign the rights and obligations of working age individuals with regard to social provision, both in kind and in cash. The research investigated how policymakers retrench or expand social benefits entitlements in the USA and Britain. The study focused on reforms undertaken by the Obama administration, on the one hand, and the Conservative led Coalition government, on the other hand. There are four main messages that emerge from the research. First, there is a much stronger legal basis for rights to social assistance in Britain than it is the case in the USA mainly because social provision is much less fragmented and devolved in Britain than in the USA, where there is a complex overlap of competencies at the federal, state, county and private provider level. Second, in the USA the Obama administration attempted to broaden the social safety net but this was done on a temporary basis, with the vast majority of increases in benefit levels set to expire after 2013. The other major social reform was the expansion of Medicaid, the main health care insurance programme for low-income individuals (74 million individuals enrolled in 2017). The Medicaid expansion sparked a huge political backlash and was undermined by a Supreme Court ruling in 2012. Third, and in sharp contrast to the tortuous and slow pace of legislative and regulatory change in the USA, in Britain the Coalition government was able to implement an ambitious programme of benefit sanctions in case of non compliance with work requirements. These reforms were in the main supported by public opinion at the time, which explains why there was no clear Labour opposition for fear of being perceived as soft on welfare and out of touch. This said, judicial review proceedings brought by welfare claimants represented a challenge to the executive, constraining administrative power. Fourth, and to conclude, there's much less political constraint on rule-making activities in Britain than has been the case in the USA, where such activities are strongly codified and subjected to several veto points. The pattern of institutional fragmentation that characterises the US political system means that the multiplication of veto points renders radical welfare reform much less likely than it is the case in England and Wales. |
| Exploitation Route | Welfare reform is highly technical which explains why it remains poorly understood by the public, including in universities. That's also due to the complexity of social security in general, with a phletora of rules that cannot be easily simplified. So there's a need to understand much better the rules of the game, what is judicial review, how does it work, under which conditions legal challenges can act as a check on administrative power. There's a lot of work to be done around putting social security law in its wider political and economic context. A key finding is that perception and messaging of reforms is key. For instance in the case of the Affordable Care Act the Medicaid expansion was not even understood by relatively well educated sections of the public, let alone less educated people. There are many misconceptions about how social security operates, leading to widespread stereotyping of benefit claimants. In short, there is a of work that needs to be done to educate the public about how social security law operates. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| URL | http://workfare.org.uk |
| Description | One of the objectives of the fellowship was to disseminate the research findings to non-academic audiences. This has been achieved in three main ways. First, I published two opinion pieces in the Guardian comment is Free in America website. The first piece, entitled Republicans wasted effort on White House welfare reform waiver, explained in an accessible language the complexities and technicalities of the ill-fated waivers initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/mar/13/republicans-wasted-effort-obama-welfare-reform. The second piece, The political calculus of President Obama 2014 budget plan, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/10/political-calculus-president-obama-budget-plan, analysed the White House attempts at designing a budgetary compromise with House Republicans in 2014, in the context of political gridlock over the nation's budget. Second, on the 2nd of December 2014, I organised an event in the House of Commons to launch the report Workfare in 21st century Britain, http://workfare.org.uk/images/uploads/docs/Workfare_in_21st_century_Britain-Final.pdf. Leading figures from different sides of the political spectrum and the media - Labour's Baroness Ruth Lister, Conservative MPs Steve Baker and John Redwood, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, 'Benefits Street' producer Richard McKerrow and BBC journalist Tom Giles - discussed the role of politicians and the media in manufacturing stereotypes of benefit claimants. The event was very well attended, with various people clearly interested in the topic and still asking several questions as the debate chair Director of the Institute of Ideas Claire Fox drew the meeting to a close. The audience comprised representatives from NGOs, practitioners, academics and students. Finally, on the 20th of March 2015, I organised an end of project conference http://www.mdx.ac.uk/events/2015/03/assessing-20-years-of-welfare-reform-in-the-us-and-the-uk. The research showed that the erosion of social assistance rights has been a central feature of social policy reforms in both countries, a trend that has not been reversed by the Presidency of Barack Obama, with the notable exception of the Affordable Care Act, which represents the major social policy and antipoverty initiative of the administration. Videos showing the major speakers Kenneth Stephens, Legal Aid Society, New York, Vicki Lens, Columbia University, Michael Spencer, Child Poverty Action Group, Bill Davies, IIPR North, and Tony Wilson, Center for Economic and Social Inclusion, are available on the Workfare project website http://www.workfare.org.uk/ under the videos section. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Policy & public services |
| Description | Assessing 20 years of welfare reform in the US and the UK End of Project conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This one-day conference concluded a two-year ESRC research project 'Welfare reform in the US and the UK: an interdisciplinary analysis'. The research showed that the erosion of social assistance rights has been a central feature of social policy reforms in both countries, a trend that has not been reversed by the presidency of Barack Obama, with the notable exception of health care. Speakers included: Vicki Lens, Associate Professor, Columbia University School of Social Work Tony Wilson, Policy Director, Center for Economic and Social Inclusion Kenneth Stephens, Supervising Attorney, Legal Aid Society Michael Spencer, Solicitor, Child Poverty Action Group Richard Exell, Senior Policy Officer, Trades Union Congress |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.mdx.ac.uk/events/2015/03/assessing-20-years-of-welfare-reform-in-the-us-and-the-uk |
| Description | House of Commons debate |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Manufacturing stereotypes of benefit claimants - House of Commons. Leading figures from different sides of the political spectrum and the media shared their experiences of how storytelling on welfare has evolved. The debate helped launch the report 'Workfare in 21st Century Britain'. This was a very well attended event (60 people in the House of Commons Room), which sparked a passionate debate on narratives on benefit claimants in the run up to the general election. The panelists were: Baroness Ruth Lister, Joint Committee on Human Rights Polly Toynbee, Guardian Tom Giles, BBC Steve Baker, MP John Redwood, MP Dr Anne Daguerre, Middlesex University Claire Fox, Institute of Ideas (Chair) Notable impacts are not yet known as it is scheduled to happen on the 2nd of December 2014. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.mdx.ac.uk/news/2014/12/leading-figures-debate-medias-role-in-benefits-stereotyping-at-hou... |