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The Citizen Network Research, formerly the Centre for Welfare Reform is a Sheffield-based think tank which works globally on advancing citizenship for all. [1] It was launched in 2009, changed its name in 2022, and has published a range of materials offering progressive innovations in welfare reform. It is not linked to any particular political party but is aligned with progressive politics in the UK and also works internationally. [2] [3] The Director and founder is Dr Simon Duffy. [4]
The Centre for Welfare Reform was founded by Dr Simon Duffy in 2009 and was registered as a private limited company on 18 May 2010. Much of the initial work of the Centre was rooted in the reform of health and social care services and the implementation of self-directed support and innovations such as personal budgets. [5] However the work of the Centre extended in to most areas of social policy along with the Centre’s growing number of Fellows, who are independent contributors with a background in innovation, independent research or campaigning.[ citation needed ]
In 2010 the incoming UK Coalition Government introduced an austerity programme which included the biggest cuts in funding to the public sector since the creation of the welfare state and a series of changes in policy to social security systems and disability benefits. [6] The Centre became known as one of the most vocal critics of the Government’s policies. [7] [8] In particular the Centre published a number of reports which argued that the austerity programme was targeting cuts on disabled people and was in breach of the UK's human rights obligations. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] In particular the Centre carried out a cumulative impact of the impact of the cuts and also proposed that the UK government should have carried out a similar impact assessment before beginning its austerity programme. [15] [16] It was involved in a number of campaigns including the Campaign for a Fair Society, the Learning Disability Alliance and was one of the founders of Learning Disability England. [17]
in 2016 the Centre launched the global cooperative Citizen Network and it began to work on establishing interconnected communities of people and organisations that are working on social innovations that advance citizenship for all. The Centre is an advocate of Universal Basic Income and was one of the co-founders of the UBI Lab Network which connects people advocating for basic income. [18] [19] [20] The Centre has also been the host for the Chronic Illness Inclusion Project which works to advance the interests of people with energy-limiting impairments. [21] [22] [23] In 2020 the Centre launched the Neighbourhood Democracy Movement to advance grassroots democratic citizen action.[ citation needed ]
The principle areas of research and action for the Centre for Welfare Reform have been reform of health and social care systems, [24] [25] peer support, [26] the advance of inclusive education, basic income, austerity, [27] local government and constitutional reform. [28]
The Centre’s website includes over 1,000 publications in various forms. Some of the most important of its publications are:
The Centre for Welfare Reform is funded by donations and by carrying out paid work for statutory and civil society organisations. Its outputs are published free of charge and much of its activity is carried out pro-bono.[ citation needed ]
Sir George Iain Duncan Smith, often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.
The welfare state of the United Kingdom began to evolve in the 1900s and early 1910s, and comprises expenditures by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland intended to improve health, education, employment and social security. The British system has been classified as a liberal welfare state system.
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs which provide support only to those who have previously contributed, as opposed to social assistance programs which provide support on the basis of need alone. The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury.
Welfare reforms are changes in the operation of a given welfare system, with the goals of reducing the number of individuals dependent on government assistance, keeping the welfare systems affordable, and assisting recipients to become self-sufficient. Classical liberals, libertarians, and conservatives generally argue that welfare and other tax-funded services reduce incentives to work, exacerbate the free-rider problem, and intensify poverty. On the other hand, socialists generally criticize welfare reform because it usually minimizes the public safety net and strengthens the capitalist economic system. Welfare reform is constantly debated because of the varying opinions on the government's determined balance of providing guaranteed welfare benefits and promoting self-sufficiency.
Guaranteed minimum income (GMI), also called minimum income, is a social-welfare system that guarantees all citizens or families an income sufficient to live on, provided that certain eligibility conditions are met, typically: citizenship; a means test; and either availability to participate in the labor market, or willingness to perform community services.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It is the second largest governmental department in terms of employees, and the largest in terms of expenditure (£187bn).
Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People is a 2019 book by Frances Ryan about disability in the United Kingdom under the 2010s austerity programme. It explores the effects of welfare cuts, local council cuts, social care cuts, increased taxes for disabled people and means testing for remaining welfare provisions. Between research about the prevalence of each issue, Ryan interviews disabled people affected by the issue. She finds people who have died from having financial support withdrawn, people who cannot afford food, heating or prescriptions, and people unable to wash or get dressed due to removal of social care. Ryan researches into disabled people who live in inaccessible housing, who cannot afford visits to the hospital, who cannot leave violent partners for financial reasons and who rely on young children to look after them.
Social welfare has long been an important part of New Zealand society and a significant political issue. It is concerned with the provision by the state of benefits and services. Together with fiscal welfare and occupational welfare, it makes up the social policy of New Zealand. Social welfare is mostly funded through general taxation. Since the 1980s welfare has been provided on the basis of need; the exception is universal superannuation.
Poverty in the United Kingdom refers to the portion of the population of the United Kingdom that are considered to be in poverty under some measures of poverty.
The Welfare Reform Act 2007 (c.5) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which alters the British social security system. A number of sections come into force two months after royal assent and the first commencement order made under the Act specified that section 31 came into force on 1 November 2007.
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a United Kingdom welfare payment for adults younger than the State Pension age who are having difficulty finding work because of their long-term medical condition or a disability. It is a basic income-replacement benefit paid in lieu of wages. It is currently being phased out and replaced with Universal Credit for claimants on low incomes, although the contribution-based element remains available.
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes is a British Conservative Party politician. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Romsey and Southampton North in Hampshire in the 2010 general election. Elected as a Conservative, Nokes had the Conservative whip removed on 3 September 2019 and sat as an independent politician until the whip was restored to her on 29 October.
Social security or welfare in Finland is very comprehensive compared to what almost all other countries provide. In the late 1980s, Finland had one of the world's most advanced welfare systems, which guaranteed decent living conditions to all Finns. Since then social security has been cut back, but the system is still one of the most comprehensive in the world. Created almost entirely during the first three decades after World War II, the social security system was an outgrowth of the traditional Nordic belief that the state is not inherently hostile to the well-being of its citizens and can intervene benevolently on their behalf. According to some social historians, the basis of this belief was a relatively benign history that had allowed the gradual emergence of a free and independent peasantry in the Nordic countries and had curtailed the dominance of the nobility and the subsequent formation of a powerful right wing. Finland's history was harsher than the histories of the other Nordic countries but didn't prevent the country from following their path of social development.
The United Kingdom government austerity programme is a fiscal policy that was adopted for a period in the early 21st century following the Great Recession. The term was used by the Coalition and Conservative governments in office from 2010 to 2019, and again during the 2021–present United Kingdom cost of living crisis.
Social welfare in Romania is coordinated by the Romanian Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Protection. The system is funded from the state budget. There are roughly fifty types of welfare a Romanian citizen can receive. In 2015, it was estimated that 7 million Romanians receive some form of welfare benefits. In 2017, the budget granted for social welfare at the ministerial level was of 35.71 billion lei.
The Welfare Reform Act 2012 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which makes changes to the rules concerning a number of benefits offered within the British social security system. It was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 8 March 2012.
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) is an organisation based in the United Kingdom for disabled people and allies to campaign against the impact of government spending cuts on the lives of disabled people. Formed on 3 October 2010 DPAC promotes full human rights and equality for all disabled people, and operates from the Social Model of Disability.
Simone Jari Finn, Baroness Finn is a businesswoman and British-American Conservative politician who was the acting, de facto Downing Street chief of staff from July 2022 – September 2022 and Downing Street deputy chief of staff from February 2021 until the end of the second Johnson Ministry.
Simon Duffy is a British welfare rights researcher, philosopher, activist and co-founder of Citizen Network and the Centre for Welfare Reform.
The People's Party is an Icelandic political party, which was founded in 2016 by Inga Sæland. The party defines itself as "based on a message of love", its articles of associating stating its goals as [fighting] with thought, word and will for Icelanders who have suffered injustices, differences, lawlessness and poverty."