Welfare rights

Last updated

Welfare rights means the rights of people to be aware of and receive their maximum entitlement to state welfare benefits, and to be treated reasonably well by the welfare system. It has been established in the United Kingdom since 1969 and has also been developed in other countries including Ireland, Australia and the United States. It became necessary because of the complexity of the UK social security system and had links at the time with a growing Claimants Union movement. As local authorities realized the advantages of having well-informed front-line staff such as housing officers and social workers, who often have to deal with benefit queries as part of their wider tasks, they turned to welfare rights staff to provide that expertise for both training and handling complex cases. In the 1980s, as local authorities took on the wider 'equalities' agenda, anti-poverty work was seen as a valid local activity in itself. Increasing benefit income helps individuals but also boosts the local economy.

Contents

Welfare rights in the United Kingdom

Some local authorities and voluntary sector organisations, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, employ paid or volunteer welfare rights advisers. These advisers usually offer free, impartial and independent advice, information and support on all aspects of social security benefits and tax credits, including free representation at a First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, which are administered by the UK Ministry of Justice.

Welfare rights advice and representation is also provided by some solicitors, barristers and independent advisers or companies. These advisers may charge a fee or they might provide limited pro-bono (free) advice and assistance.

Welfare rights advisers generally offer expert lay legal advice in dealings with public departments, such as local authority Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit services, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Welfare rights advisers will generally:

Welfare rights advisers often use a case management system to help them manage their work. These can be paper based, computer based or online.

Welfare rights officers are often closely allied with campaigning groups and charities such as the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Citizens Advice Bureau and London Advice Service Alliance (LASA), for example. These organizations are respected for their training and publications, which are used extensively by advisers throughout the UK, as well as their campaigning activities.

Welfare rights advisers' professional organization is the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers (NAWRA) at a UK level; Scotland has its own professional association, Rights Advice Scotland (RAS).

Welfare rights in the United States

The Flemming Rule of 1960, named after Arthur Flemming, was an administrative ruling which decreed that states could not deny income assistance eligibility through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program on the basis of a home being considered unsuitable per the woman's children being termed as illegitimate.

In 1963 Johnnie Tillmon founded ANC (Aid to Needy Children) Mothers Anonymous, which was one of the first grassroots welfare mothers’ organizations, and which eventually became part of the National Welfare Rights Organization. [1]

The National Welfare Rights Organization, active from 1966 to 1975, was an activist organization that fought for the welfare rights of people, especially women and children. The organization had four goals: adequate income, dignity, justice, and democratic participation. Johnnie Tillmon was the first chair of the organization. [2]

King v. Smith , 392 U.S. 309 (1968), was a decision in which the Supreme Court held that Aid to Families with Dependent Children could not be withheld because of the presence of a "substitute father" who visited a family on weekends.

In April 1991 Cheri Honkala founded the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a progressive social justice, political action, and advocacy group of, by, and for the poor and homeless which is operating out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and led by Galen Tyler.

Related Research Articles

Welfare state in the United Kingdom

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 intended to improve health, education, employment and social security. The British system has been classified as a liberal welfare state system.

Welfare Means-oriented social benefit

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.

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is a UK charity that works to alleviate poverty and social exclusion.

Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States.

ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide.

Labour government, 1964–1970

Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II on 16 October 1964 and formed the first Wilson ministry, a Labour government, which held office with a thin majority between 1964 and 1966. In an attempt to gain a workable majority in the House of Commons, Wilson called a new election for 31 March 1966, after which he formed the second Wilson ministry, a government which held office for four years until 1970.

Housing Benefit is a means tested social security benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help meet housing costs for rented accommodation. It is the second biggest item in the Department for Work and Pensions' budget after the state pension, totalling £23.8 billion in 2013–14.

National Welfare Rights Organization

The National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) was an American activist organization that fought for the welfare rights of people, especially women and children. The organization had four goals: adequate income, dignity, justice, and democratic participation. The group was active from 1966 to 1975. At its peak in 1969, NWRO membership was estimated at 25,000 members. Thousands more joined in NWRO protests.

A significant portion of the population of the United Kingdom are considered to be in poverty under some measures of poverty.

A law centre is a specific type of not-for-profit legal practice in the United Kingdom which provides legal aid to people otherwise not able to access commercial legal support. Law centres are independent and directly accountable to the communities they serve, usually through committees of local community members. The Law Centres Network (LCN) represents law centres in all levels of government.

Social security, in Australia, refers to a system of social welfare payments provided by Australian Government to eligible Australian citizens, permanent residents, and limited international visitors. These payments are almost always administered by Centrelink, a program of Services Australia. In Australia, most payments are means tested.

Welfare in France includes all systems whose purpose is to protect people against the financial consequences of social risks.

Social programs in the United States

Social programs in the United States are welfare programs designed to ensure that the basic needs of the American population are met. Federal and state welfare programs include cash assistance, healthcare and medical provisions, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies, education and childcare assistance, and subsidies and assistance for other basic services. Similar social welfare benefits are sometimes provided by the private sector either through policy mandates or on a voluntary basis. Employer-sponsored health insurance is an example of this.

Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age people who have a low household income: income-based Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, and Income Support; Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit; and Housing Benefit. Contributions-based Jobseekers Allowance, Contributions-based Employment and Support Allowance have been replaced with "New style" versions, and are not affected by Universal Credit.

History of Social Security in the United States

A limited form of the Social Security program began as a measure to implement "social insurance" during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when poverty rates among senior citizens exceeded 50 percent.

Welfare Reform Act 2012 United Kingdom legislation

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.

Tony Lynes was a British writer and campaigner in the field of social security and pensions.

Johnnie Tillmon

Johnnie Tillmon (1926–1995) was a welfare rights activist. She was born Johnnie Lee Percy, and her mother died in childbirth when Johnnie was five years old. In 1944 she went to live with her aunt. She left to marry James Tillmon in 1948, but they divorced in 1952. In 1959 she moved to California to join her brothers there. By that time she was a single mother to six children. In California she organized workers and became involved in a community association called the Nickerson Garden Planning Organization. In 1963 she became ill and was encouraged to begin receiving welfare. Seeing how people on welfare were treated, she organized those on welfare in the housing project, and in 1963 founded ANC Mothers Anonymous, which was one of the first grassroots welfare mothers’ organizations. This organization later became part of the National Welfare Rights Organization. Tillmon became the first chair of the NWRO. In 1972 she became its executive director when George Wiley resigned. Wiley had been trying to mobilize the working poor, and tried to broaden the horizons of the feminist movement by redefining poverty as a “women’s issue.” Tillmon's 1972 essay, "Welfare Is a Woman's Issue," which was published in Ms., emphasized women's right to adequate income, regardless of whether they worked in a factory or at home raising children. The funding for the NWRO had gone down by the time Tillmon became the executive director, and the NWRO ended in bankruptcy in March 1975; however, Tillmon continued fighting for welfare rights at the state and local levels.

Thomas Martin Partington, is a British retired legal scholar and barrister. He is Emeritus professor of Law at the University of Bristol.

Poverty in Norway has been declining from World War II until the Global Financial Crisis but is now increasing slowly, and is significantly higher among immigrants from the Middle East and Africa. Before an analysis of poverty can be undertaken, the definition of poverty must first be established because it is a subjective term. The measurement of poverty in Norway deviates from the measurement used by the OECD. Norway traditionally has been a global model and leader in maintaining low levels on poverty and providing a basic standard of living for even its poorest citizens. Norway combines a free market economy with the welfare model to ensure both high levels of income and wealth creation and equal distribution of this wealth and has achieved levels of unprecedented levels of economic development, equality and prosperity.

References

  1. "Tillmon, Johnnie (1926-1995); The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". The Black Past. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  2. Dorothy Sue Cobble (15 March 2007). The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor. Cornell University Press. pp. 205–. ISBN   0-8014-8943-1.

Bibliography