tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/welfare-system-37439/articleswelfare system – The Conversation2022-06-08T13:55:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1845072022-06-08T13:55:59Z2022-06-08T13:55:59ZCost of living crisis: what research says about the potential psychological impact<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467707/original/file-20220608-11-pjlfn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-attractive-woman-worried-home-banking-1099722167">SB Arts Media | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over two-thirds – 69% – of low-income private renters in England will be unable to eat and heat their homes at least one day per week because of <a href="https://theconversation.com/cost-of-living-crisis-its-not-enough-to-know-how-many-people-are-below-the-poverty-line-we-need-to-measure-poverty-depth-180450">rising living costs</a>, the UK charity Crisis <a href="https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/families-at-risk-of-eviction-as-cost-of-living-crisis-escalates/">recently warned</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/cap-off/">The poorest 10%</a> of households spend up to three times more of their family budget on food and energy bills as compared to the wealthiest 10%, according to the Resolution Foundation, an independent UK think tank. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that inflation rates for these poorest families could reach <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/16065">over 10%</a> in 2022. </p>
<p>This has obvious practical implications for <a href="https://theconversation.com/povertys-impact-on-well-being-is-hard-to-ignore-51378">people’s daily lives</a>. There is a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29463599/">growing body of evidence</a> that suggests that austerity policies are at least partially responsible for life expectancy stalling in England and Wales. But as my research into <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcop.22789">social inequality and mental distress</a> shows, the psychological impact is just as profound. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Someone wearing gloves handles a red box of food in a store room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467700/original/file-20220608-22-nyunq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467700/original/file-20220608-22-nyunq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467700/original/file-20220608-22-nyunq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467700/original/file-20220608-22-nyunq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467700/original/file-20220608-22-nyunq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467700/original/file-20220608-22-nyunq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467700/original/file-20220608-22-nyunq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Over two million people in the UK are using food banks to get by.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rotherham-uk-april-14-2020-volunteer-1704267670">HASPhotos | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How poverty affects wellbeing and mental health</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/psychological-perspectives-poverty">Research has</a> long shown that poverty and destitution cause stress and what psychologists term <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1014517718949">negative affective states</a> or emotions: fear, anger, disgust and sadness. Experiencing poverty-related stress can limit your <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1232491">attention span</a>. It favours habitual behaviours at the expense of goal-directed ones. In other words, you are more likely to be short-sighted and risk-averse in your decision making.</p>
<p>Further, psychologists <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1991-97206-008">talk about “agency”</a> as the subjective sense that you have control over your life and can shape your future. There is <a href="https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/21/2/219/1857104?login=false">considerable evidence</a> that in western cultures which prize individualism, having such a sense of agency is related to better physical and mental health. </p>
<p>It follows that feeling trapped or helpless over the long term will have a highly detrimental effect on your mental health. Research shows that it <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12912762/">nearly trebles</a> the chances of being diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Low levels of trust, meanwhile, increase the chance of being diagnosed with depression by <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16439045/">nearly 50%</a>. And job insecurity is <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-insecure-work-is-finally-being-recognised-as-a-health-hazard-for-some-australians-177153">as damaging</a> for mental health as unemployment. </p>
<p>Lastly, poverty is humiliating. It can <a href="https://carsey.unh.edu/sites/default/files/media/2020/07/christine-robinson-nh-listens-fellows-cv.pdf">stop people</a> from feeling like they matter. It can deny them the sense both that they are valued, as individuals, and that they are adding value to their community. Research shows that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12912762/">prolonged humiliation</a> following a severe loss trebles the chance of being diagnosed with clinical depression. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A homeless person sits on the pavement of a shopping street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467709/original/file-20220608-11-8pvfva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467709/original/file-20220608-11-8pvfva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467709/original/file-20220608-11-8pvfva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467709/original/file-20220608-11-8pvfva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467709/original/file-20220608-11-8pvfva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467709/original/file-20220608-11-8pvfva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467709/original/file-20220608-11-8pvfva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cost of living crisis is putting more families at risk of eviction and homelessness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-september-2020-homeless-man-sits-1815824195">William Barton | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How poverty and destitution are systemic problems</h2>
<p>Contrary to what some politicians <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/55746268-e9b0-11e8-885c-e64da4c0f981">continue to imply</a>, research shows that the distress stemming from deprivation is not a weakness: it is not about an <a href="https://theconversation.com/parents-and-children-living-in-poverty-have-the-same-aspirations-as-those-who-are-better-off-103897">individual in trouble</a> needing re-education. </p>
<p>Instead, poverty is a <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/emlj66&div=34&g_sent=1&casa_token=Bhav3SCBSU8AAAAA:Bl66_4YPm7Em29YM47EJZTe44jR-ThFrLahcFweDEh1mSYdmWjYSzfdlqsAQbPCkOhDxjznB8w&collection=journals">systemic problem</a>. Research <a href="https://equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level">shows that</a> the distress people affected by poverty experience arises from the deep-rooted inequality underpinning a faulty system. </p>
<p>In 2018, as the UK government prepared to finalise its <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(20)30026-8/fulltext">welfare reform project</a> with the introduction of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universal-credit-perpetuates-the-false-equation-between-public-and-private-debt-105686">universal credit</a>, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/26/dwp-has-fortress-mentality-on-universal-credit-mps-say">withering analysis</a> (no longer available on the UK parliament’s website) of the government’s approach. The committee reportedly concluded that the department for work and pensions (DWP) had a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/26/dwp-has-fortress-mentality-on-universal-credit-mps-say">fortress mentality</a>”, making them unresponsive to universal credit claimants’ experiences. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcop.22789?casa_token=E0Ogm8H6PFIAAAAA%3A92UeRq56Yt-sQPp7GhzNChmdhbkF-UPYXNeYQJ-hqDm2QPWY4DQEZuBQLyeszRjX4fv03KT1cYCHnDhE">My research</a> supports this analysis. Interviews with universal credit claimants show a lack of understanding on the part of policymakers of the lived experiences of people affected by their policies. When the benefits system was digitised, people experienced delays in receiving payments. As a result, some went into arrears on rent. Use of food banks and rates of poverty and homelessness rose too, which further impacted people’s mental and physical health. As one participant told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>With universal credit, when the money comes in and sometimes you don’t know, there are delays and all of that. So, there is a gap and then you have more people homeless or people using food banks, struggling.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In their book, <a href="http://oro.open.ac.uk/50406/">The Violence of Austerity</a>, editors Vickie Cooper and David Whyte compiled multiple accounts from academics including <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-expectancy-in-britain-has-fallen-so-much-that-a-million-years-of-life-could-disappear-by-2058-why-88063">Danny Dorling</a>, who highlighted the extent to which austerity measures had violated the wellbeing of people across Britain. Austerity, of course, dominated political and public discourse for most of the 2010s. The cost of living crisis is now replacing it. </p>
<p>Short-sighted and harsh policy approaches to administrating public finances tend to have a detrimental impact on the most economically vulnerable. Heeding the voices of those people, on how their lives, their livelihoods and their wellbeing is affected, is crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruno De Oliveira is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>Poverty impacts your mental health as much as your daily life and your physical wellbeing.Bruno De Oliveira, Lecturer, University of ChichesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1804502022-04-07T10:18:51Z2022-04-07T10:18:51ZCost of living crisis: it’s not enough to know how many people are below the poverty line – we need to measure poverty depth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456329/original/file-20220405-22-y2m2cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C22%2C4940%2C3300&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/some-change-beggars-paper-cup-1747556105">sladkozaponi / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2021/households-below-average-income-an-analysis-of-the-income-distribution-fye-1995-to-fye-2021">most recent</a> poverty statistics show that poverty rates declined during the first year of the pandemic. But this should offer little comfort to those concerned about the cost of living crisis.</p>
<p>The publication of these figures continues a longstanding trend of official poverty statistics being out of step with the dramatic socioeconomic upheavals affecting lowest income households the most. In part, this is because official poverty figures <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/what-latest-income-and-poverty-stats-could-tell-us-and-what-they-cant">lag more than a year</a> behind the current situation. </p>
<p>The main problem, though, is that the government’s primary measure of poverty is set at a threshold of 60% below median incomes. In practice, anchoring poverty measures to the resources of those in the middle tells us more about what’s going on for average earners than it does about the living standards of those towards the very bottom. To fully understand low-income dynamics and the effectiveness of policy interventions, we need to look beyond the overall numbers below a given threshold and look at how far people are actually falling below the poverty line. </p>
<p>In recent years, research analysts and anti-poverty campaigners have become increasingly <a href="https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2022/01/helen-barnard-poverty-is-spiralling-out-of-control-in-this-country-its-time-for-the-government-to-get-a-grip.html">concerned</a> about the changing severity of financial hardship in <a href="https://www.srpoverty.org/2019/10/16/spain/">high-income countries</a>. But there is little consensus on how to measure or address it. </p>
<h2>How deep does poverty go?</h2>
<p>In the UK, there are at least five measures of deep poverty currently in circulation. Independent organisations such as the <a href="https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk">Social Metrics Commission</a>, <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2022">Joseph Rowntree Foundation</a> and <a href="https://cpag.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/report/dragged-deeper-how-families-are-falling-further-and-further-below">Child Poverty Action Group</a> have all adopted slightly different indicators. These capture varying degrees of hardship, with the typical incomes of those in deep poverty changing considerably depending on the measure chosen. </p>
<p>The average disposable income (after housing costs) of someone in poverty, according to the government’s main measure, is around £11,300 a year. But it can be as low as £5,800 a year for someone falling more than 50% below the poverty line. Two people with these respective incomes would both be categorised as “in poverty”, but the nature and severity of the hardship they experience would be radically different. </p>
<p>Depending on the measure chosen, different people are also more likely to be affected. Single people without children and younger adults are both heavily <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/destitution-uk-2020">over-represented</a> among those experiencing the deepest forms of poverty, highlighting where policy interventions could help reduce severe hardship most effectively.</p>
<p>However you choose to measure it, deep poverty has increased considerably over the last 25 years. Since the mid-1990s, the number of people falling below the poverty line in the UK has increased by 8%. But the number falling more than 50% below this line has jumped by 53% (from 2.6 to 4.1 million people). Over the last decade, those closer to the poverty line have seen their relative incomes improve, while the poorest have seen their incomes <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-social-policy/article/plumbing-the-depths-the-changing-sociodemographic-profile-of-uk-poverty/FC5AC6566CEE16F06D066E5B901BB29C#article">fall the furthest</a>. Women, children, larger families and black people are some of the worst affected by this trend.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A chart showing how many people are in deep poverty over the past 26 years, based on different measures. The highest estimate for 2020 shows nearly 10 million people in deep poverty." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are five commonly used measures to determine ‘deep poverty’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Calculations based on Households Below Average Income statistics.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>One-size-fits-all approach ignores poverty depth</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-trouble-with-measuring-poverty/">widespread calls</a> to improve reporting on low incomes, the UK government recently announced that it was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/development-of-a-new-measure-of-poverty-statistical-notice/development-of-a-new-measure-of-poverty-statistical-notice">cancelling</a> the development of a “wider measurement framework covering depth, persistence and lived experience of poverty”. This will also make it harder to target resources where they are most urgently needed in a cost of living crisis.</p>
<p>In the UK, public spending on social security has <a href="https://obr.uk/wtr/welfare-trends-report-march-2021/">steadily grown</a>, reaching around 12% of GDP last year. The fact that this has occurred alongside an increasing depth of poverty underlines a central contradiction of the UK welfare state. As a liberal welfare regime, centred on lower levels of state intervention, the UK is supposed to be focused on a more targeted, means-tested social security ideal – concerned much less with redistribution and more with poverty alleviation for those on low incomes. </p>
<p>However, the UK’s social security system is failing to protect the livelihoods of those who already have the least. <a href="https://www.distantwelfare.co.uk/food-insecurity-report">Food insecurity</a>, <a href="https://www.distantwelfare.co.uk/winter-report">debts and financial strain</a> are widespread among people who claim benefits. That said, the temporary £20 uplift to universal credit and working tax credit was particularly <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/16010">effective</a> in helping some of the lowest income households weather the storm during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Those in deep poverty were <a href="https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/SMC-Poverty-and-Covid-Report.pdf">most likely</a> to be negatively affected by income or job loss during the pandemic. And new <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2021#analysis-of-average-disposable-income">evidence suggests</a> their drop in original income was partially offset by measures such as the £20 uplift. </p>
<p>The ongoing cost of living crisis stands to affect the lowest income households most. Despite this, new policy measures announced (or a lack thereof) in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/spring-statement-2022">spring statement</a> last month are poorly targeted, with only <a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/press-releases/chancellor-prioritises-his-tax-cutting-credentials-over-low-and-middle-income-households-with-2-in-every-3-of-new-support-going-to-the-top-half/">£1 in every £3</a> going to those in the bottom half of the income distribution.</p>
<p>The pandemic showed that a boost to targeted, working-age benefits can make a big difference. If the government does not learn those lessons and introduce policies to support those on the lowest incomes, poverty will deepen for those who already have the least.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Edmiston receives funding from the British Academy and the Wolfson Foundation</span></em></p>Why the government’s main measure of poverty doesn’t tell us much about the lowest-income people.Daniel Edmiston, Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772282022-02-21T14:15:36Z2022-02-21T14:15:36ZDefying Ghana’s lockdown rules wasn’t simply stubborn: here’s what was going on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446719/original/file-20220216-19-hxuvz6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Head porters from the northern part of Ghana are victims of institutional weakness</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Quami/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ghana imposed lockdowns in the <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/accra-tema-kasoa-and-kumasi-under-partial-lockdown.html">Accra and Kumasi districts</a> on 30 March 2020 to limit community transmission of the new coronavirus. But members of the public found ways to evade the restrictions, making them ineffective. People went about their daily lives as usual, where they could, and avoided checkpoints. Police were sometimes <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-covid-lockdown-why-it-triggered-a-toxic-mix-of-mass-defiance-and-police-violence-176062">seen humiliating </a>or violently handling people they caught breaking the rules. Eventually the government <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/ghana-lifts-partial-coronavirus-lockdown/1811306">suspended</a> the restrictions. </p>
<p>Various public commentators – from the media to politicians – <a href="https://www.african-review.com/online-first-details.php?id=31">attributed the mass defiance</a> of the restrictions to indiscipline. Some even applauded the police for treating “offenders” harshly. This way of seeing “wrong” behaviour, whether it’s bad driving or poor academic performance among students, has become widespread in Ghana. The behaviour is put down to individuals’ <a href="https://www.african-review.com/online-first-details.php?id=31">bad attitudes, irresponsibility and stubborn defiance</a>.</p>
<p>On the other hand, a <a href="https://royalliteglobal.com/advanced-humanities/article/view/237">growing number of studies</a> have shown that limited compliance with lockdown measures was connected to broader social issues. These include the informal structure of Ghana’s economy, inequalities in access to housing and public services, and the lack of well-developed infrastructure to deliver welfare.</p>
<p>Less has been said about the historical and institutional roots of the inequalities – the processes and factors that created the conditions that made it difficult to contain the crisis. It’s important to understand these so as to be better prepared to deal with any similar future crisis.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I took a closer look at this in a recent <a href="https://www.african-review.com/online-first-details.php?id=31">paper</a>. Using media, scholarly and institutional sources, we unravelled how unresolved historical injustices, deepened in new forms, undermined effective containment of the pandemic. </p>
<p>We found a clear picture of people responding to the restrictions in different ways that were driven by their socio-economic status. We believe that seeing their behaviour as indiscipline deflects attention from the deeper determinants of these responses. It also serves to legitimise police violence.</p>
<h2>A history of inequality</h2>
<p>It’s helpful to look at the example of head porters, popularly called “kayayes” in Ghana. These working class people, <a href="https://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/index.php/idsbo/article/view/2871/ONLINE%20ARTICLE">mainly young female migrants from the poorer parts of northern Ghana</a>, make a living by carting the goods of customers and traders in Ghana’s busiest southern cities – mainly Accra, Tema and Kumasi.</p>
<p>They featured heavily in the violation of the lockdown restrictions. Close to 30 of the kayayes decided to evade the lockdown restrictions and the hardships that would follow by smuggling themselves in a cargo truck to their home towns. They risked spreading COVID-19 from a hotspot area to poor parts of the country where healthcare facilities had few resources. The police arrested them on their journey.</p>
<p>One kayaye was <a href="https://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/index.php/idsbo/article/view/2871/ONLINE%20ARTICLE">quoted as saying</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We came to Accra to look for something to eat. We don’t have anyone in Accra to give us shelter, we have been sleeping on the streets. We decided to go back to our hometown, when we were told there is an outbreak of a disease in Ghana and only return when the whole situation is resolved.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Ikhm3oZbc">public ridicule and sarcastic commentary</a> on the Kayayes behavior closely followed the popular narrative that blamed the mass-defiance of the lockdown on indiscipline. That narrative, however, hides more than it reveals.</p>
<p><a href="https://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/index.php/idsbo/article/view/2871/ONLINE%20ARTICLE">Research</a> has shown that kayayes face severe hardships, including malnutrition and inadequate access to healthcare, education, sanitation and accommodation. </p>
<p>The northern part of Ghana, where most kayayes come from, has long <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/polp.12250">remained the most impoverished</a> part of the country. This has roots in colonial development models which denied the place development resources because they did not have raw materials <a href="https://www.aehnetwork.org/working-papers/economic-inequality-in-ghana-1891-1960/">the colonial government valued</a>. Successive post-colonial governments have not only failed to dismantle these discriminatory structures for delivering socio-economic development, they have actually replicated them.</p>
<p>This favours the southern parts of the country. According to the 1969 industrial enterprises directory, about <a href="https://www.african-review.com/online-first-details.php?id=31">59.5% of all industrial establishments </a>in the country were concentrated in Accra-Tema. That of Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi stood at some 16.5% and 10.2%, respectively. These three cities combined hosted over 86% of all <a href="https://www.african-review.com/online-first-details.php?id=31">registered industries in the country</a>. </p>
<p>Those numbers <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Governance-for-Pro-Poor-Urban-Development-Lessons-from-Ghana/Obeng-Odoom/p/book/9781138672758#:%7E:text=Governance%20for%20Pro%2DPoor%20Urban%20Development%20is%20a%20comprehensive%20and,governance%20in%20the%20sub%20region.">still hold true</a>. Socio-economic developments in Ghana have retained the spatial discrimination and exclusions of the colonial era.</p>
<p>The IMF/World Bank-funded <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/np/pfp/ghana/ghana0.htm#:%7E:text=Ghana%20launched%20an%20economic%20recovery,government%20involvement%20in%20the%20economy.">structural adjustment reforms</a> implemented in the country in the 1980s actually deepened these patterns. </p>
<p>The reforms attracted substantial private capital, especially foreign direct investments. But the incentives related to economies of scale and profitability directed the investments to the southern industrial enclaves, where poverty was least endemic. For instance, for close to a decade (2001 to 2009), <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Governance-for-Pro-Poor-Urban-Development-Lessons-from-Ghana/Obeng-Odoom/p/book/9781138672758#:%7E:text=Governance%20for%20Pro%2DPoor%20Urban%20Development%20is%20a%20comprehensive%20and,governance%20in%20the%20sub%20region.">only one investment project was located in the Upper West region</a>, one of the poorest in Ghana.</p>
<p>The success of the few targeted interventions meant to bridge the development gap between the north and the south has been undermined by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxy0lLce3NQ">corruption and mismanagement.</a></p>
<p>The result is <a href="https://www.aehnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AEHN-WP-38.pdf">widening inequality</a> and <a href="https://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/index.php/idsbo/article/view/2871/ONLINE%20ARTICLE">migration of young people</a> from the north to the southern cities for opportunities. The kayayes are typical among them.</p>
<p>They support the economic development of their host cities by filling market transportation gaps and assisting in market exchange. Thus, kayayes play important roles in the socio-economic life of Ghana’s southern cities. But with their low income <a href="https://www.globalsistersreport.org/column/justice-matters/migration/advocating-young-women-porters-ghana-50886">(some earn as low as GH₵20 cedi or $4 a week)</a>, they are blocked from getting decent housing. </p>
<p>This is because formal housing interventions focus on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X20302886">[high income and middle class people]</a>. And landlords demand several years of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-has-a-housing-crisis-what-we-found-in-kumasi-and-what-needs-to-change-147801">advance lump-sum rental payments</a> in the informal housing market.</p>
<p>Accommodation and skills training promises <a href="https://citinewsroom.com/2019/11/ghbudget-govt-to-build-600-bed-hostel-facility-for-kayayei-at-agbogbloshie/">made to kayayes by politicians</a> have gone unfulfilled. They continue to make a living by carting goods in the day and sleeping on the streets at night. </p>
<p>Some find accommodation in the rapidly expanding <a href="https://theconversation.com/accras-informal-settlements-are-easing-the-citys-urban-housing-crisis-104266">low-income slum neighbourhoods</a>. But it’s not secure because the city authorities frequently <a href="https://borgenproject.org/fwd-slums-in-ghana/#:%7E:text=In%20April%20of%202020%2C%20the,reduce%20the%20risk%20of%20flooding.">destroy these settlements</a>. </p>
<p>Even while the government was enforcing the “stay at home” restrictions, one of its local agencies, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, <a href="https://www.myjoyonline.com/over-1000-slum-dwellers-homeless-after-demolishing-exercise-at-old-fadama/#:%7E:text=Over%201%2C000%20slum%20dwellers%20homeless%20after%20demolishing%20exercise%20at%20Old%20Fadama,-Source%3A%20Ama%20Cromwell&text=Over%201%2C000%20slum%2Ddwellers%20at,dredging%20of%20the%20Korle%20Lagoon.">made over 1,000 people</a>, including kayayes, homeless by demolishing their houses because they were deemed “illegal”.</p>
<p>These were the conditions prompting the decision of some kayayes to try to get back to the north in a cargo truck, illegally.</p>
<h2>Lessons for building back better</h2>
<p>Public disapproval of people who resisted lockdown rules was based on the idea that they were just being indiscipline–stubborn to adapt to positive behavioral change.</p>
<p>As our analysis shows, however, that perspective ignores the deeper historical determinants that placed people like the kayayes at the heart of the violation of the restrictions. Inspired by the indiscipline narrative, the government used the violent power of the state to compel compliance. The strategy, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-covid-lockdown-why-it-triggered-a-toxic-mix-of-mass-defiance-and-police-violence-176062">we have shown elsewhere</a>, did not work.</p>
<p>A more sustainable way to contain the next crisis lies with measures that give the majority of Ghanaians a shot at a decent life. Such measures could include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>dealing with corruption and mismanagement so that public resources are available to be used towards employment and housing</p></li>
<li><p>moratoriums on evictions</p></li>
<li><p>extension of public services to poor neighbourhoods and upgrading slums</p></li>
<li><p>directing private capital and public investments to poorer parts of the
country</p></li>
<li><p>building robust infrastructure and systems for delivering welfare and social support on a large scale.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>_Samuel Ametepey and Savior Kusi contributed to this and the <a href="https://www.african-review.com/online-first-details.php?id=31">original article</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177228/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Festival Godwin Boateng does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Unresolved historical injustices, deepened in new forms, undermined compliance with Ghana’s COVID lockdown.Festival Godwin Boateng, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, The Earth Institute, Columbia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643152021-07-12T07:07:59Z2021-07-12T07:07:59ZAs Sydney’s lockdown continues, what support is available — and needed — for people losing income?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410729/original/file-20210712-17-372p1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Greater Sydney is in its third week of lockdown, with no clear end in sight. The situation calls for support both for businesses and households suffering severe income loss in the weeks ahead.</p>
<p>Greater Sydney makes up about one-fifth of the Australian population, so is a significant chunk of our economy and community. </p>
<p>It’s worth noting when the (now extinct) Coronavirus Supplement was announced on March 22 2020, there were <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/australia#what-is-the-daily-number-of-confirmed-cases">179 new cases per day</a> for all of Australia. When the (also now extinct) JobKeeper Payment was announced a week later, there were 383 new cases per day. </p>
<p>There were 112 new cases announced in NSW alone on Monday.</p>
<h2>A federal government responsibility</h2>
<p>In June, Prime Minister Scott Morrison <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/victoria-outlines-250-million-business-package-as-federal-government-rejects-calls-for-new-jobkeeper-for-workers">indicated</a> business support was a state government responsibility. But income support for households is a federal government responsibility. </p>
<p>In 2020, the Morrison government showed great flexibility. JobKeeper supported employers to maintain part-wages for workers who would otherwise be stood down, and the Coronavirus Supplement gave additional support to those who lost their jobs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sign at Bondi Beach 'Stay at home orders for Greater Sydney'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410730/original/file-20210712-13-10jqfph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410730/original/file-20210712-13-10jqfph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410730/original/file-20210712-13-10jqfph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410730/original/file-20210712-13-10jqfph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410730/original/file-20210712-13-10jqfph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410730/original/file-20210712-13-10jqfph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410730/original/file-20210712-13-10jqfph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney had been in lockdown since June 26.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These programs went a long way towards addressing a weakness of Australia’s social security system — the lack of insurance against sudden income loss when workers are laid off (for whatever reason). Indeed, for a while, the Coronavirus Supplement also worked to address another major weakness, the below-poverty line income for the long-term unemployed.</p>
<p>JobKeeper and the Coronavirus Supplement ended earlier this year. Most recently, the federal government has built on existing schemes to assist people during natural disasters, to support those during lockdowns or quarantine. </p>
<p>The last few months in Melbourne and Sydney show the COVID crisis is far from finished. Morrison has flagged that further financial support is being considered by the government. Treasury <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/11/federal-government-considers-further-assistance-for-states-and-territories-during-covid-outbreaks">is reportedly</a> working on options.</p>
<p>There are currently two main forms of support.</p>
<h2>The COVID-19 Disaster Payment</h2>
<p>The first main support is the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/covid-19-disaster-payment">COVID-19 Disaster Payment</a>. This kicks in once a lockdown has gone on for more than a week. For those losing under 20 hours work, the payment is $325 per week, and for those losing 20 hours or more of work, the payment is $500 per week.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-new-temporary-covid-disaster-payment-who-can-get-it-who-is-missing-out-162090">There's a new temporary COVID disaster payment – who can get it? Who is missing out?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are several eligibility criteria: recipients must be unable to attend work and have lost income, they can’t have access to appropriate paid leave and they can’t be receiving an <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/income-support-payment">income support payment</a>, a state pandemic payment or the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/pandemic-leave-disaster-payment">Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment</a> for the same period.</p>
<p>Last week, Morrison <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-08/scott-morrison-covid-vaccine-nsw-outbreak/100277466">announced</a> the liquid assets limit of $10,000 would be waived from the third week of a lockdown.</p>
<h2>Pandemic leave payment</h2>
<p>The second key support is the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/pandemic-leave-disaster-payment">Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment</a>, where an <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/pandemic-leave-disaster-payment-new-south-wales/who-can-get-it">appropriate local health authority</a> has told people to self-isolate or quarantine, or for those who need to care for someone with COVID-19. This includes Australian residents and those with a working visa.</p>
<p>The payment is $1,500 for each 14-day period someone needs to self-isolate or quarantine. A new claim must be made each 14-day period and Services Australia has set up accelerated application processes. </p>
<p>As with the COVID disaster payment, those with any income from paid work or other leave entitlements, or on <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/income-support-payment">income support payments</a>, are not eligible.</p>
<h2>How adequate are these measures?</h2>
<p>Whether support is adequate depends on the spread of the virus and its economic impact in coming weeks. But there are already gaps in support. </p>
<p>It is confusing to have two payments at different levels, with people required to quarantine receiving greater support than those locked down, even when financial losses may be similar.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman crosses a deserted street in the Sydney CBD." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410731/original/file-20210712-23-rv8bfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410731/original/file-20210712-23-rv8bfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410731/original/file-20210712-23-rv8bfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410731/original/file-20210712-23-rv8bfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410731/original/file-20210712-23-rv8bfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410731/original/file-20210712-23-rv8bfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410731/original/file-20210712-23-rv8bfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Delta variant has turned the Sydney CBD into a ghost town.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/pandemic-leave-disaster-payment">Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment</a> is comparable to JobKeeper, but the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/covid-19-disaster-payment">Covid-19 Disaster Payment</a> is considerably less (although higher than JobSeeker Payment for the unemployed). </p>
<p>As we have already noted, both payments have significant exclusions. With the COVID-19 payment, apart from being unavailable for the first week, people must submit a new claim for each additional week of lockdown. </p>
<h2>What about those already on welfare?</h2>
<p>While the government <a href="https://theconversation.com/50-rise-in-jobseeker-comes-with-tougher-job-search-requirements-155858">increased the base rate</a> of JobSeeker Payment earlier this year, Australia still has the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-50-boost-to-jobseeker-will-take-australias-payment-from-the-lowest-in-the-oecd-to-the-second-lowest-after-greece-155739">second lowest</a> “replacement rate” (relative to wages) for the unemployed in all OECD countries.</p>
<p>Another significant gap is most of the current help cannot go to people already receiving income support, although many of them may lose income in lockdown. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unemployment-support-will-be-slashed-by-300-this-week-this-wont-help-people-find-work-146289">Unemployment support will be slashed by $300 this week. This won't help people find work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Welfare recipients who have to go into isolation or quarantine can access a one-off <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/crisis-payment-national-health-emergency-covid-19">crisis payment</a> (equal to a week’s pay at the maximum basic rate of their payment), but this is only available twice in a six month period.</p>
<p>According to Australian government data, in May, nearly one in four people receiving <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/benefits-payments/working-age-payments">Youth Allowance (Other)</a> and more than 20% of those receiving JobSeeker had part-time earnings, which is crucial to help people paying rent and bills. If they lose earnings, their benefits will increase, but by less than half the earnings lost.</p>
<h2>Business support</h2>
<p>We keep hearing <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/how-to-help-small-businesses-survive-during-lockdown/news-story/473869223f5da8831f9a154c049a757e">reports</a> about how small business is suffering badly. </p>
<p>Small businesses have many fixed costs — most notably rent — that will not be supported. More generally, so far, most of the costs of the lockdowns have been borne by either employees, employers in locked down industries, or government. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1414369722536136704"}"></div></p>
<p>But a wider sharing of the costs via rent and interest moratoriums for affected businesses and households should be considered. This requires co-ordinated action by the state and federal governments. </p>
<p>Importantly, state governments are looking at their own measures. Last week, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/08/casual-workers-to-get-government-funded-sick-leave-in-victorian-trial">Victoria announced</a> it would trial up to five days of sick or carer’s leave, at minimum wage rates, to workers in high-risk industries, including aged care, cleaners, supermarket workers, hospitality workers and security guards. However, this will not start until early 2022.</p>
<p>NSW has been pushing the federal government to jointly devise a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/new-scheme-to-save-jobs-as-sydney-faces-long-lockdown-20210711-p588py.html">new scheme</a> to save jobs. An announcement is expected imminently. </p>
<p>Whatever this is, governments need to be realistic about what businesses and households are facing. The longer lockdown lasts, the more people will need longer-term solutions to costs they can’t get away from, like mortages, rents and basic living expenses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164315/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Whiteford has received funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Social Services. He is a Policy Advisor to the Australian Council of Social Service and a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Bradbury has received funding from the Australian Research Council as well as from a number of government bodies and non-profit research foundations. He is currently participating in the Poverty and Inequality research partnership between UNSW and the Australian Council of Social Service.</span></em></p>JobKeeper and the Coronavirus Supplement ended earlier this year. But the last few months in have shown the COVID crisis is far from over in Australia.Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityBruce Bradbury, Associate Professor, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1433492020-08-04T03:20:00Z2020-08-04T03:20:00ZAustralia has been stigmatising unemployed people for almost 100 years. COVID-19 is our big chance to change this<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349871/original/file-20200728-27-gtqu13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C152%2C2977%2C1720&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Postles/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is facing one of its biggest <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/unemployment-to-soar-as-economy-suffers-deep-recession-20200723-p55etz.html">crises in unemployment</a> since the Great Depression, and yet already, extra COVID-19 supports to the unemployed are <a href="https://theconversation.com/jobseeker-supplement-cut-from-550-to-250-a-fortnight-after-september-143086">being wound back</a>.</p>
<p>From today, the conditions around JobSeeker payment <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/jobseeker-application-to-get-tougher/12520912">will get tougher</a> for all job seekers, apart from <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/covid-19/job-seekers">those in Victoria</a>. Come Christmas time, it’s possible people on the unemployment payment could be back to a meagre <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/12/coalition-mps-push-to-keep-jobkeeper-higher-than-40-a-day-after-september">$40-a-day payment</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-compromise-that-might-just-boost-the-jobseeker-unemployment-benefit-142321">The compromise that might just boost the JobSeeker unemployment benefit</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This is counterproductive and counterintuitive. But unfortunately, it is not surprising. </p>
<p>Australia has a long history of viewing unemployment as some sort of moral failing that needs to be punished, rather than supported. </p>
<h2>The current situation</h2>
<p>JobSeeker - and its predecessor, Newstart - has not increased in real terms since 1994. Business, community groups and researchers are among the consistent chorus <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook46p/JobseekerPayments">pushing for a significant boost</a> to the payment which, on average, is about A$40 a day.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Long queue of Australians line up outside Centrelink office." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349864/original/file-20200728-19-1uvo6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4609%2C2579&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349864/original/file-20200728-19-1uvo6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349864/original/file-20200728-19-1uvo6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349864/original/file-20200728-19-1uvo6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349864/original/file-20200728-19-1uvo6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349864/original/file-20200728-19-1uvo6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349864/original/file-20200728-19-1uvo6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Almost one million Australians have lost their jobs since the start of COVID-19.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peed/ AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When COVID-19 hit, JobSeeker recipients were given an <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-supplement-your-guide-to-the-australian-payments-that-will-go-to-the-extra-million-on-welfare-134358">additional $550 payment per fortnight</a>. But as we learned in last month’s economic update, this will reduce to <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-07/Fact_sheet-Income_Support_for_Individuals.pdf">$250 per fortnight</a> come September 25. There is no certainty about what will happen after December 31. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, mutual obligation requirements <a href="https://www.employment.gov.au/news/mutual-obligation-requirements-job-seekers-be-gradually-reintroduced-4-august-2020">are re-starting</a> from today. This means Australians who are out of work will be asked to submit up to four job applications and will be penalised if they refuse a suitable job.</p>
<p>While these requirements do not apply to people in Victoria, it comes amid high unemployment rates around the country. The July jobs figures showed <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/almost-1-million-australians-unemployed-abs-20200716-p55cio.html">about one million Australians</a> were unemployed. A <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/coronavirus-victoria-extra-250000-workers-stood-down-from-stage-4-restrictions/news-story/c87bec759e4af00069c0b0ccca1e4a49">further 250,000 people</a> are now expected to be stood down Victoria due to the stage 4 restrictions. </p>
<p>According to recent estimates, there is only <a href="https://www.acoss.org.au/media-releases/?media_release=1-job-for-every-13-looking-acoss-calls-on-government-to-have-peoples-backs-through-tough-times">one job advertised</a> for every 13 people on JobSeeker or Youth Allowance. Even well before the COVID-19 crisis, there was only <a href="https://www.acoss.org.au/full-employment-is-a-fiction-that-doesnt-help-policy/">one job for every eight people</a>.</p>
<h2>JobSeeker and the ‘impediment’ to finding work</h2>
<p>When asked in late June about the level of JobSeeker, <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/interview-ray-hadley-2gb-2">Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned</a> generous payments could stop people finding jobs (even if the jobs don’t exist). </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What we have to be worried about now is that we can’t allow the JobSeeker payment to become an impediment to people going out and doing work, getting extra shifts. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The sentiments expressed here go to the very heart of the problem with Australia’s attitudes towards unemployment payments - the belief social support needs to compel people into paid work. This means welfare is crafted as a deterrent against people in need.</p>
<p>The government’s frequent use of terms like “<a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-australian-parliament-house-act-19">welfare dependency</a>,” brand unemployment as a failure of the individual, not the economy. It also overlooks the vast number of Australians who do not receive JobSeeker Payment, but are dependant on government support with <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-26/tax-concessions-put-welfare-costs-in-perspective-anglicare/9585930">lucrative tax concessions</a> for things like superannuation funds, business tax breaks and negative gearing.</p>
<h2>Australia’s long history of blaming the unemployed</h2>
<p>To fully understand our approach to unemployment, however, we need to look back in time. Australia has a long history of viewing unemployed people as somehow at fault. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-get-both-jobkeeper-and-jobseeker-143109">How to get both JobKeeper and JobSeeker</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>During the Great Depression, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-29/australias-history-of-economic-support-coronavirus-covid-19/12100194">sustenance or “susso”</a> was given to the unemployed in the form of either a payment, rations or community work. Each state administered these programs differently, but the support was barely enough to survive.</p>
<p>The Depression was caused by Wall Street crashing and export industries suffering a downturn, with unemployment in Australia hitting a peak of 32%. But “susso” was still <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2019/August/Creating-unemployment-benefits">seen as degrading</a> and those receiving it were portrayed as lazy or undeserving. There were newspaper reports of “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169136333">huge dole frauds</a>” threatening to “cripple” the system. The Daily Telegraph reported the case of a lazy, “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/247444602">chicken-eating</a>” family, living in “luxury” on the dole. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group of men standing at 'sustenance' work site during Great Depression" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349876/original/file-20200728-27-u2hnsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349876/original/file-20200728-27-u2hnsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349876/original/file-20200728-27-u2hnsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349876/original/file-20200728-27-u2hnsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349876/original/file-20200728-27-u2hnsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349876/original/file-20200728-27-u2hnsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349876/original/file-20200728-27-u2hnsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unemployment reached 32% during the Great Depression.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Museum of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These views acted in part as a deterrent. Only 53% of unemployed people in NSW took sustenance payments and work <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/1983/pdf/rdp8303.pdf">during the 1930s</a>, while in Victoria, only 23% took up this support.</p>
<h2>‘Dole blugers’, ‘activity plans’ and frozen Newstart</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s, Australia had the recession we “<a href="https://theconversation.com/cabinet-papers-1990-91-lessons-from-the-recession-we-didnt-have-to-have-52153">had to have</a>”. Even though Australia had a peak unemployment rate of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-19/unemployment-numbers-still-mask-the-true-scale-of-job-losses/12370940">about 11%</a>, the <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/library/prspub/7WH00/upload_binary/7WH00.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22library/prspub/7WH00%22">Active Employment Strategy</a> (AES) was introduced. </p>
<p>This centred around the “active participation” of the unemployed. For the first time, recipients were required to sign an “activity plan” in order to receive support. </p>
<p>This focus on a deficiency in the unemployed (as opposed to the economy) has led scholars to view the AES as a “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/144078301128756175">less social and more moral</a>” shift in Labor’s policy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People in suits, sitting, waiting for job interviews" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350982/original/file-20200804-14-1sixo4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350982/original/file-20200804-14-1sixo4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350982/original/file-20200804-14-1sixo4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350982/original/file-20200804-14-1sixo4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350982/original/file-20200804-14-1sixo4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350982/original/file-20200804-14-1sixo4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350982/original/file-20200804-14-1sixo4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Job seekers have faced stricter requirements over the last 30 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Howard government then increased the use of “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/archive/dole">mutual obligation</a>” - or the tasks people need to do in order to obtain welfare payments - introducing “work for the dole” in 1997. The same year, the Coalition tied Newstart to inflation - as opposed to the pension, which is tied to wages. This <a href="https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2019/11/a-sad-and-sorry-history-of-newstart/">effectively froze the payment</a>.</p>
<p>Popular support for this shift was helped by media stories of “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6502535/Centrelink-scrounger-Shane-Paxton-dole-bludging-family-living-mum.html">dole bludgers</a>” and arguments young people were “<a href="https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/34658/67282_00003255_01_Nolan004.pdf?sequence=1">too fussy</a>” when it came to finding work. </p>
<p>This general distrust of the unemployed has continued under successive Labor and Coalition governments, reinforced by <a href="https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/Our_Impact/A_wider_impact/Poverty_in_the_land_of_plenty/">austerity measures</a> in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Punitive approaches to welfare, such as plans to <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/expert-says-drug-testing-welfare-recipients-poor-policy">drug test</a> welfare recipients and the introduction of <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-mounting-evidence-against-cashless-debit-cards-but-the-government-is-ploughing-on-regardless-123763">cashless debit cards</a>, have only intensified. </p>
<h2>It’s OK to give people adequate payments</h2>
<p>Social security doesn’t need to be so harsh. The $550 <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/coronavirus-supplement">Coronavirus Supplement</a> has enabled people to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/14/a-haircut-fresh-food-and-freedom-the-jobseeker-rise-changed-my-life">spend money</a> on essentials like fresh fruit, heating, medical needs and <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/jobseeker-changed-this-mum-s-life-could-a-basic-income-for-all-ever-be-a-reality?fbclid=IwAR22LPCaPlmr15_6GN2504MDisLsaQRpT_HenGZ9RjmSqK47ENikYmq-pXs">education</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-supplement-is-the-biggest-boost-to-indigenous-incomes-since-whitlam-it-should-be-made-permanent-135936">The coronavirus supplement is the biggest boost to Indigenous incomes since Whitlam. It should be made permanent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Also, just because people are unemployed, <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6836986/not-enough-work-there-is-plenty-we-just-need-to-pay-for-it/">it doesn’t mean they aren’t working</a>. Unpaid work, such as care, volunteering and artistry, <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/australia-in-transition/publications/understanding-the-unpaid-economy-mar17.pdf">contributes overwhelmingly to the economy</a>.</p>
<p>Providing adequate, non-punitive welfare support doesn’t stop people from trying to get jobs when they are available, either. In the 1970s, Canada’s <a href="https://nccdh.ca/images/uploads/comments/forget-cea_%282%29.pdf">Negative Income Tax trials</a> showed only a small decrease in labour market supply when people were given an adequate payment. The people who <a href="https://inequality.org/research/basic-income-proposals-crazy/">delayed returning to work</a> were women re-entering the workforce after having children and young people staying longer in education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Line of people with their backs to camera, standing next two an office block" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350050/original/file-20200728-35-9pg40t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350050/original/file-20200728-35-9pg40t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350050/original/file-20200728-35-9pg40t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350050/original/file-20200728-35-9pg40t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350050/original/file-20200728-35-9pg40t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350050/original/file-20200728-35-9pg40t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350050/original/file-20200728-35-9pg40t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paying people more welfare does not stop trying to get jobs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Postles/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Morrison didn’t flinch in June when he announced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/30/australia-to-acquire-long-range-missiles-as-pm-warns-of-dangerous-post-covid-19-world">$270 billion would be spent on missiles</a> in the name of national security. </p>
<p>Yet when it comes to people’s economic security, it is so often <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/jobseeker-s-200-boost-could-cost-4-billion-for-six-months-20200702-p558bh.html">framed as a trade-off</a> against reducing the budget deficit. This is despite the importance of spending to <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/lowe-gives-green-light-for-budget-blowout-20200721-p55e3n">help the economy recover</a> from our current recession. </p>
<p>Australia has a long history of stigmatising and distrusting its unemployed. With hundreds of thousands of Australians out of work due to COVID-19, now is the chance to break with tradition by providing non-punitive and adequate income support. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-jobseeker-in-our-post-covid-economy-australia-needs-a-liveable-income-guarantee-instead-141535">Forget JobSeeker. In our post-COVID economy, Australia needs a 'liveable income guarantee' instead</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Correction:</strong> a previous version of this article said job seekers would be penalised for not submitting job applications. At the moment, <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/covid-19/job-seekers">penalties only apply</a> if people refuse an offer of suitable paid work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Klein received funding from the British Academy and is a Board member of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies.</span></em></p>Unemployed Australians were characterised as ‘lazy’ and ‘underserving’ of government support in the 1930s. Sound familiar?Elise Klein, Senior Lecturer, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1415352020-07-01T20:09:05Z2020-07-01T20:09:05ZForget JobSeeker. In our post-COVID economy, Australia needs a ‘liveable income guarantee’ instead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344933/original/file-20200701-54135-1rvdxyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C82%2C4944%2C2965&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kelly Barnes/ AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are now less than three months to go before the expanded JobSeeker payment is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hammer-drop-2-3-million-people-facing-virus-welfare-cut-in-september-20200612-p551vz.html">due to end</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, there is a growing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/28/coalition-plays-down-reports-of-permanent-75-rise-in-jobseeker-payment">political debate</a> about what should happen to the unemployment payment that was roughly doubled in April. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-improve-jobkeeper-hint-it-would-help-not-to-pay-businesses-late-140435">How to improve JobKeeper (hint: it would help not to pay businesses late)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While the government is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/jobkeeper-and-seeker-revamps-planned-as-jobless-rate-hits-18-year-high-20200618-p553zs.html">reportedly considering</a> a revamp of both the JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments, we believe a much broader rethink is needed of the way we provide income support to people without a market income. </p>
<p>Instead of an unemployment payment - or the dole - we need a liveable income guarantee. </p>
<h2>‘Snapback’ is not going to happen</h2>
<p>It’s increasingly clear a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/02/morrison-insists-nothing-lasts-forever-especially-the-coronavirus-spending-spree">snapback</a>” to the pre-pandemic way of doing things is not realistic. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344960/original/file-20200701-54135-13ida8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344960/original/file-20200701-54135-13ida8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344960/original/file-20200701-54135-13ida8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344960/original/file-20200701-54135-13ida8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344960/original/file-20200701-54135-13ida8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344960/original/file-20200701-54135-13ida8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344960/original/file-20200701-54135-13ida8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unemployment has jumped under coronavirus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Postles/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The recent upsurge in coronavirus cases reminds us the new normal will see all sorts of economic and social activity constrained and subject to <a href="https://theconversation.com/these-10-postcodes-are-back-in-stage-3-coronavirus-lockdown-heres-what-that-means-141705">sudden lockdowns</a>. </p>
<p>As a June <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/recovery-book/">Grattan Institute report</a> has also shown, we need more fiscal stimulus, not a return to pre-pandemic fixations on debt and deficits. </p>
<p>On top of this, we have also seen grim announcements of <a href="https://theconversation.com/qantas-cutbacks-signal-hard-years-before-airlines-recover-141522">job cuts at Qantas</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/26/virgin-australia-administrators-agree-to-sell-airline-to-american-private-equity-firm-bain-capital">sale of Virgin</a> and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/swimwear-brand-seafolly-collapses-due-to-crippling-covid-19-crisis-20200629-p557c9.html">other well-known brands collapsing</a>. Many smaller businesses will follow their lead. </p>
<p>Thousands of hardworking Australians, many of whom have never been unemployed before, will be thrown out of work - some of them for a long time. </p>
<h2>We need a new unemployment system for a new reality</h2>
<p>The system of unemployment benefits that was in place before COVID-19 worked on the assumption there were plenty of jobs for anyone capable of filling them. </p>
<p>Unemployment was therefore seen as reflecting personal defects - either unwillingness to work or, more charitably, a lack of particular skills needed for “job readiness”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-big-bounce-2020-21-economic-survey-points-to-a-weak-recovery-getting-weaker-amid-declining-living-standards-141184">No big bounce: 2020-21 economic survey points to a weak recovery getting weaker, amid declining living standards</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This assumption was clearly untrue, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/16/anglicare-finds-five-jobseekers-applying-for-every-entry-level-position">even before the pandemic</a>. As the long history of booms, busts and economic crises have shown us, all workers are vulnerable to losing their job through no fault of their own. </p>
<h2>There aren’t jobs for everyone</h2>
<p>The failure of labour markets to provide full employment is also seen in the increasing levels of underemployment, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2018/aug/09/underemployment-has-risen-and-its-young-people-paying-the-price">particularly among young people</a>. </p>
<p>Underemployed workers are, by definition, willing and able to work, and ineligible for unemployment benefits. But they are nonetheless unable to secure a full-time job. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344967/original/file-20200701-54171-traphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344967/original/file-20200701-54171-traphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344967/original/file-20200701-54171-traphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344967/original/file-20200701-54171-traphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344967/original/file-20200701-54171-traphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344967/original/file-20200701-54171-traphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344967/original/file-20200701-54171-traphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young people are increasingly underemployed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For an unacceptably high proportion of young people, the experience of the labour market has been one of stringing together part-time gigs, while trying unsuccessfully to start a career. <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6202.0Main+Features1May%202020?OpenDocument">Official measures</a> of youth unemployment hit 16% in May. A further 25.8% of young Australians between 15 and 24 years old were underemployed. </p>
<h2>We need to do something different</h2>
<p>Even before coronavirus, there was a pressing need to reform the way we support unemployed people. </p>
<p>JobSeeker (or its predecessor, Newstart), had not been increased in real terms since 1994. Business, community groups and researchers were among the loud chorus pushing for an increase to the payment which, on average, is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-government-to-prioritise-pensioners-over-newstart-recipients-20190724-p52afs.html">about A$45.50 a day</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-coronavirus-supplement-stops-jobseeker-needs-to-increase-by-185-a-week-138417">When the Coronavirus Supplement stops, JobSeeker needs to increase by $185 a week</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But to respond to the post-pandemic era, we need to make more comprehensive changes to the way we support unemployed and underemployed Australians, that acknowledge the scarcity of jobs. </p>
<h2>A liveable income guarantee</h2>
<p>Moving forward, we should adopt the concept of a liveable income guarantee or living wage. The living wage is closely linked to the idea of participation - starting from the principle everyone has a right to a liveable income and a responsibility to contribute to society.</p>
<p>Ideas of this kind, under names including “universal basic income”, “guaranteed minimum income” and “participation income” have been discussed since the 1960s. </p>
<p>They have attracted more attention in recent years as the failure of the current economic system to deliver full employment and broad improvements in living standards has become more apparent.</p>
<h2>How would a liveable income guarantee work?</h2>
<p>Many people already productively contribute to society in different ways, <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/australia-in-transition/publications/understanding-the-unpaid-economy-mar17.pdf">such as caring</a>, but their work is largely obscured by the narrow measure of formal employment. </p>
<p>The social security system only partially supports those unable to work due to age, disability, unemployment, or caring needs. And support for all of these categories has been cut back and subjected to <a href="https://vcoss.org.au/analysis/when-welfare-isnt-fair/">conditionality</a> under successive governments, operating on the ideology of market liberalism.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-covid-19-recession-is-different-and-we-need-more-stimulus-to-deal-with-it-141037">Vital Signs: COVID-19 recession is different – and we need more stimulus to deal with it.</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are many possibilities of what contributions could be included and “paid for” under a liveable income guarantee. Most of them have some precedent, but have not been considered as part of a comprehensive program of social participation. The options include:</p>
<ul>
<li>volunteering in support of organisations and causes</li>
<li>work on grant-funded community projects</li>
<li>support for beginning small businesses</li>
<li>ecological care projects </li>
<li>artistic and creative activity</li>
<li>full-time study.</li>
</ul>
<p>All of these productive activities should be given the same terms, income and assets test as the pension.</p>
<p>Including supplements, a single pensioner currently receives up to $944.30 per fortnight. This is paid to the aged, people with disability and carers. </p>
<p>Without the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/coronavirus-supplement">Coronavirus Supplement</a>, a single person on the JobSeeker Payment receives $574.50 a fortnight (including the Energy Supplement). </p>
<h2>How to pay for a living wage</h2>
<p>We estimate the annual cost of a policy along the lines suggested above would be less than $30 billion. About $10 billion a year would be needed to set all benefits equal to the age pension. The cost of expanded eligibility for the liveable income guarantee is harder to estimate, but unlikely to be more than $20 billion a year.</p>
<p>Most of this could be financed simply by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/10/coalitions-income-tax-plan-will-gift-highest-earners-33bn">forgoing the tax cuts</a> for high income earners legislated by the Morrison government after it won the 2019 election. </p>
<h2>The welfare system should be more like the tax system</h2>
<p>When it comes to government checks on people’s participation in their chosen community activities, we need to look to the tax system. </p>
<p>Currently the welfare system imposes strict compliance rules to prevent cheating at the outset. By contrast, the tax system is operated on the basis of self-assessment. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Ind/Self-assessment-and-the-taxpayer/">Taxpayer declarations are assumed to be true in the first instance</a>, but subject to auditing. The liveable income guarantee should operate like this, where people submit their own participation declaration, as we do with our tax returns.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344970/original/file-20200701-54146-145onj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344970/original/file-20200701-54146-145onj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344970/original/file-20200701-54146-145onj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344970/original/file-20200701-54146-145onj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344970/original/file-20200701-54146-145onj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344970/original/file-20200701-54146-145onj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344970/original/file-20200701-54146-145onj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The welfare system could operate more like the tax system when it comes to self-reporting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Gourley/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Looking ahead, we need to focus on cooperation rather than competition. </p>
<p>This means giving everyone the opportunity to contribute to society, whether or not they generate a market income. A liveable income guarantee will be a crucial step towards this goal.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was the product of discussion among a group that also included author Tim Dunlop, Western Sydney University emeritus professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jane-goodall-18327">Jane Goodall</a> and QUT senior lecturer Dr Jenni Mays.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Klein is a board member of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Troy Henderson has received funding for consulting work for The Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute. This work was not focused on Basic Income.
Troy Henderson is a member of the Basic Income Earth Network, the peak academic body for Basic Income scholarship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Quiggin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As debate grows over what should happen to JobSeeker Payment, a ‘liveable income guarantee’ turns the idea of an unemployment benefit on its head.John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of QueenslandElise Klein, Senior Lecturer, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityTroy Henderson, Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Sydney, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1412732020-06-23T08:13:15Z2020-06-23T08:13:15ZThe ‘problem’ is not ‘fixed’. Why we need a royal commission into robodebt<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343363/original/file-20200623-188886-l6i4p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C104%2C4592%2C2934&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Public pressure is growing for a royal commission into the <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-to-repay-470-000-unlawful-robodebts-in-what-might-be-australias-biggest-ever-financial-backdown-139668">controversial robodebt scheme</a>. </p>
<p>After calls from <a href="https://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/articles/greens-join-call-royal-commission-robodebt">the Greens</a> this week, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-23/labor-calls-for-robodebt-royal-commission/12381456">Labor also demanded</a> an inquiry. </p>
<p>As Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said: “how can we ensure that a debacle like this never happens again?”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/government-to-repay-470-000-unlawful-robodebts-in-what-might-be-australias-biggest-ever-financial-backdown-139668">Government to repay 470,000 unlawful robodebts in what might be Australia's biggest-ever financial backdown</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But Prime Minister Scott Morrison quickly <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6802498/pm-facing-robodebt-royal-commission-calls/?cs=14264#gsc.tab=0">shot down the idea</a>, telling reporters it wasn’t necessary, “because we’re fixing the problem”. </p>
<h2>The tide has turned on robodebt</h2>
<p>In the past few months, the campaign against robodebt has enjoyed a series of unprecedented wins.</p>
<p>Last November, the Federal Court declared the robodebt of Melbourne woman Deanna Amato was “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/27/government-admits-robodebt-was-unlawful-as-it-settles-legal-challenge">not validly made</a>”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343413/original/file-20200623-188926-tqgbc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343413/original/file-20200623-188926-tqgbc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343413/original/file-20200623-188926-tqgbc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343413/original/file-20200623-188926-tqgbc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343413/original/file-20200623-188926-tqgbc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343413/original/file-20200623-188926-tqgbc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343413/original/file-20200623-188926-tqgbc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Labor is now pushing for a royal commission into robodebt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then last month, the Morrison government announced it would <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-29/federal-government-refund-robodebt-scheme-repay-debts/12299410">repay $721 million</a> worth of robodebts. Earlier this month, Morrison <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/11/scott-morrison-apologises-for-hurt-or-harm-caused-by-robodebt-rollout">also told parliament</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would apologise for any hurt or harm in the way that the government has dealt with that [robodebt] issue. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://gordonlegal.com.au/robodebt-class-action/robodebt-faqs/">a class action</a>, seeking interest and damages on behalf of about <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-01/robodebt-class-action-lawyers-urge-government-to-apologise/12302108">600,000 Australians</a>, is scheduled for trial on September 21. </p>
<p>Given all that is happening, however, we still need the power of a royal commission. </p>
<h2>Unanswered questions</h2>
<p>As an administrative law researcher, myself and my colleauges have watched the robodebt scandal play out for four years now. </p>
<p>In this time, we have seen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/06/centrelink-was-warned-robodebts-could-be-inaccurate-more-than-four-years-ago">blocked freedom of information requests</a> and unanswered questions. I have sat with some of my own students devastated by life-changing, inaccurate debts. </p>
<p>Only a royal commission can bring real change to Centrelink, as it could ensure every unlawful debt is accounted for and fixed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-robodebt-to-racism-what-can-go-wrong-when-governments-let-algorithms-make-the-decisions-132594">From robodebt to racism: what can go wrong when governments let algorithms make the decisions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Importantly, any potential class action settlement may not account for everyone who had an unlawful debt. For one thing, we know debts prior to June 2015 are excluded from the class action due to legal time limits on suing for damages.</p>
<p>Despite claims it is “fixing the problem”, the federal government is so far <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/31/robodebt-scandal-leak-reveals-unlawful-debts-predate-2015-but-government-has-no-plans-to-pay-back-money">refusing</a> to take any practical action to find, refund or compensate this unknown number of people. </p>
<p>We have also yet to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/30/coalition-told-robodebt-no-longer-viable-and-should-be-abolished-leaked-advice-reveals">see due diligence</a> applied to debts raised solely from people’s bank statements. </p>
<p>These debts are raised by turning net received income amounts into gross fortnightly earnings. This is a complex process, which raises further legal questions. Again, a royal commission is needed to ensure everyone who was harmed by defective administration is recognised and compensated. </p>
<h2>History cannot repeat</h2>
<p>A royal commission is also needed because it has the capacity to make sure robodebt never happens again. </p>
<p>Robodebt is an unprecedented failure of governance in an institution - Centrelink - that potentially touches the lives of every Australian. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343414/original/file-20200623-188900-f1uqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343414/original/file-20200623-188900-f1uqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343414/original/file-20200623-188900-f1uqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343414/original/file-20200623-188900-f1uqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343414/original/file-20200623-188900-f1uqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343414/original/file-20200623-188900-f1uqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343414/original/file-20200623-188900-f1uqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A royal commission is needed to prevent governance failures like the robodebt scheme from happening again.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the institutional level, what has been done to people and the federal budget and since the scheme began cannot go uninvestigated.</p>
<p>For example, we do not know when the government first learned that the scheme was unlawful. </p>
<p>It is also not clear why it did not challenge <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/12/coalition-warned-robodebt-scheme-was-unenforceable-three-years-before-it-acted">multiple adverse Administrative Appeal Tribunal decisions</a> about the robodebt scheme. </p>
<h2>Questions about budgetary processes</h2>
<p>Robodebt also raises troubling questions about Australian government budget processes. </p>
<p>In early 2015, the government proposed removing existing compliance safeguards, <a href="https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/43528/Report-Centrelinks-automated-debt-raising-and-recovery-system-April-2017.pdf">telling Centrelink staff</a> to stop gathering payslips directly from employers before raising debts. </p>
<p>Just four months later, more than one billion dollars in estimated savings had <a href="https://archive.budget.gov.au/2015-16/glossy/Tax-and-Benefits.pdf">already made its way</a> into the federal budget. The program eventually grew to a projected $3.7 billion.</p>
<p>It may now result in a net cost to the taxpayer. On any objective measure, that requires an independent inquiry.</p>
<h2>Centrelink needs to learn by listening</h2>
<p>Robodebt is a reminder for academics, the media and the public that where we focus our attention is a form of power. </p>
<p>A royal commission would give a platform to people who are frequently talked over, talked about or placed on hold by those in government. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-robodebt-its-time-to-address-parentsnext-133222">After Robodebt, it's time to address ParentsNext</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s not just consultants and politicians who have ideas about the government, everyday Australians have ideas, too. For four years, the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/i-don-t-have-any-trust-centrelink-robo-debt-recipients-say-it-feels-like-bullying">people who knew the truth </a>about robodebt were not listened to.</p>
<p>When they hear the word “robodebt”, Australians should not see politicians or even court victories. We need to reshape the system around the working mum or dad, on the phone, two kids at their feet - who tried to accurately report their earnings to the government, only to be told they owed a crudely averaged debt. </p>
<p>No wonder an estimated <a href="https://essentialvision.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Essential-Report-090620-1.pdf">55% of Australians</a> already support the idea of a royal commission into robodebt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darren O'Donovan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Morrison government is resisting calls for a royal commission into robodebt. But there are still too many unanswered questions about the controversial scheme.Darren O'Donovan, Senior Lecturer in Administrative Law, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1382332020-05-22T12:20:20Z2020-05-22T12:20:20Z4 ways COVID-19 has exposed gaps in the US social safety net<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336540/original/file-20200520-152292-15vmt59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C6699%2C4194&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Americans without bank accounts may have delays in financial aid.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Unbanked/096bca1c9d33486081112a121d5b9e79/23/0">AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States is experiencing its <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-economy-entering-deepest-recession-on-record-172304066.html">steepest economic slide</a> in modern history. Tens of millions of Americans <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/19/unemployment-today-vs-the-great-depression-how-do-the-eras-compare.html">have filed new unemployment claims</a> as the coronavirus shutters businesses and forces companies to lay off staff.</p>
<p>People need support to help them through the crisis in a few key ways – <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2019-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2018-dealing-with-unexpected-expenses.htm">cash to meet immediate financial needs</a>, health care to cover them should they become ill and housing even if they <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/what-to-do-if-you-cant-pay-rent-because-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic.html">can’t make rent</a>. Despite federal stimulus efforts north of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniedenning/2020/04/08/why-the-2-trillion-stimulus-package-is-putting-dollars-in-the-wrong-place/#4e47ec586777">US$2 trillion – so far</a> – it is likely that some of those currently being affected will <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/falling-through-the-cracks-many-americans-wont-get-coronavirus-checks/2353710/">fall through the cracks</a>.</p>
<p>As scholars who study how <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sph/profile/paul-shafer/">people enroll in public programs</a> and research <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilleavila">social programs related to women’s health</a>, we have seen how well-intentioned policies can sometimes fail those they are supposed to help.</p>
<p>We took a deeper look at how difficult it might be for people to navigate their way through the U.S.’s patchwork of social safety net measures as they try to stay afloat during the pandemic and economic downturn. Here are four gaps that we found:</p>
<h2>1. Delays, exemptions to financial aid</h2>
<p>Congress passed stimulus measures that are providing some Americans with a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/coronavirus-stimulus-check-calculator/">one-time check</a> of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per dependent child along with a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/3/24/21188470/coronavirus-unemployment-benefits-senate-stimulus">temporary boost</a> in unemployment benefits. Many received their stimulus through direct deposit, but millions of low-income Americans <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stimulus-check-delays-payment-status-not-available/">experienced problems and delays</a> receiving payment. As many as 20 million may have had stimulus deposits go to tax preparers who take a fee out of refunds because clients are <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/millions-of-people-face-stimulus-check-delays-for-a-strange-reason-they-are-poor">too poor to pay for tax prep up front</a>. There are a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/stimulus-check-delayed-what-to-do-answers-2020-4">variety of other reasons</a> for delays: if individuals haven’t filed their 2019 tax returns yet, if their address has changed recently or if they <a href="https://apnews.com/8b2b93d4e9474c418853e0f20e79aaa8">don’t have a bank account</a>.</p>
<p>Not everyone benefits from stimulus measures. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanguina/2020/04/21/5-reasons-you-wont-get-stimulus-check/#2a8b011d48fd">Young adults over the age of 17 who can be claimed as a dependent</a> will not receive checks, nor will people who jointly filed their taxes with <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/people-missing-out-on-stimulus-checks-because-spouses-are-immigrants">immigrant spouses who are not citizens</a>, even if they are here legally. </p>
<p>Workers in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/23/business/economy/unemployment-benefits-stimulus-coronavirus.html">more than half of states</a> will receive, on average, more in unemployment benefits than their normal salaries. But there are challenges to receiving unemployment benefits too, as the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/24/not-all-unemployed-people-get-unemployment-benefits-in-some-states-very-few-do/">rules vary from state to state</a> and labor agencies are <a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article242820041.html">struggling to keep up with unemployment filings</a>. There are also thresholds for minimum earnings to qualify and limits on how long a person can collect unemployment.</p>
<h2><strong>2. Free testing but costly treatment?</strong></h2>
<p>Congress mandated that private insurance cover <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/usc-brookings-schaeffer-on-health-policy/2020/03/13/what-are-the-health-coverage-provisions-in-the-house-coronavirus-bill/">testing at no cost</a>, but not treatment. Infected? Get your deductible ready. Many will count on Medicaid, which typically covers medical bills retroactively for three months prior to application if you were eligible, but people in states that have broad <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200506.111318/full/">restrictions on retroactive coverage</a> could be left holding the bag. And anyone in the process of getting their <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/medicaid-abruptly-canceled-her-health-insurance-then-came-the-coronavirus">Medicaid coverage renewed</a> might be concerned, to say nothing of the <a href="https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/">nearly 30 million Americans uninsured</a> before the crisis.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/upshot/trump-hospitals-coronavirus.html">$100 billion fund</a> will help hospitals cover the cost of treating uninsured people affected by COVID-19. But the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821457551/whats-inside-the-senate-s-2-trillion-coronavirus-aid-package">CARES Act</a> was unspecific about <a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-policy-watch/a-look-at-the-100-billion-for-hospitals-in-the-cares-act/">how fast and to what areas</a> the funds will be distributed, and <a href="https://time.com/5812979/coronavirus-stimulus-hospital-administrative-costs/">what they can be used for</a>. That needs to be figured out quickly, as <a href="https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/estimated-cost-of-treating-the-uninsured-hospitalized-with-covid-19/">treatment costs</a> may be as high as $40,000 per patient.</p>
<p>And none of this funding even addresses those who develop long-term complications that require ongoing care.</p>
<h2><strong>3. Unemployed and uninsured</strong></h2>
<p>Losing employment and health insurance coverage counts as a qualifying event to sign up for health insurance through HealthCare.gov or a state-based marketplace, but that assumes people know that they can. The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/31/trump-obamacare-coronavirus-157788">avoided</a> any broad reopening of enrollment, but <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/uninsured-covid-19-health-care-coverage_n_5e739885c5b6f5b7c53fdfb8">several states</a> have done so. Laid-off employees may have the option of extending their former employer’s health insurance through <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/04/848002626/coronavirus-conundrum-how-to-cover-millions-who-lost-their-jobs-and-health-insur">COBRA</a>, but this tends to be more expensive and unsustainable. </p>
<p>Two recent studies project that <a href="https://www.shadac.org/sites/default/files/publications/UMN%20COVID-19%20ESI%20loss%20Brief_April%202020.pdf">nearly 20 million Americans</a> may face disruptions in employer-based health insurance, with as many as <a href="https://www.healthmanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/HMA-Estimates-of-COVID-Impact-on-Coverage-public-version-for-April-3-830-CT.pdf">11 million becoming uninsured</a>. For those newly uninsured, living in a <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/">Medicaid expansion state</a> like New York or California might mean you are OK. But even before the pandemic, there were already an estimated 2.3 million people living in nonexpansion states like Texas or Florida who fell into the <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/the-coverage-gap-uninsured-poor-adults-in-states-that-do-not-expand-medicaid/">coverage gap</a> – making too much money to qualify for Medicaid and yet not enough to afford coverage.</p>
<h2><strong>4. Safe from eviction, but for how long?</strong></h2>
<p>Stay-at-home orders have been seen as key in slowing the spread, but rely on the false assumption that everyone has access to safe and stable housing. Some people looking for affordable housing placements in March and April found themselves in limbo, with <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/renters-become-homeless-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-after-housing-authorities-delayed-paperwork">progress on paperwork</a> suddenly stalled. For those with housing, unpaid rent was <a href="https://www.curbed.com/2020/4/8/21209989/coronavirus-rent-housing-pay-rent-strike-landlord">up 50%</a> in April over March. Many large cities and states have temporarily <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/29/which-states-are-doing-better-job-protecting-renters-being-evicted-during-coronavirus-pandemic/">halted evictions</a> and a federal eviction ban covers about a <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/can-you-be-evicted-during-coronavirus-heres-how-to-find-out">quarter of rental housing</a>. But this is only for nonpayment, leaving a loophole for landlords to continue pursuing eviction for other reasons. And that one-time stimulus check won’t even cover the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/list/news/50-states/monthly-rent-by-state/6edf40b2-ca12-4902-84df-522c46b8f029/">median monthly rent</a> in a number of states, especially in parts of California and the New York City metro area. So what happens when the check has been spent and the eviction ban is lifted?</p>
<h2><strong>A solution</strong></h2>
<p>What if these safety net programs were better integrated? Imagine if filing for unemployment triggered a next step – either presenting a series of subsidized health plan options through HealthCare.gov or auto-enrolling those eligible in Medicaid. It would potentially alleviate administrative burden and address gaps in information. States could use a mechanism like <a href="https://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/express-lane-eligibility-a-missed-opportunity-to-patch-holes-in-the-safety-net/">Express Lane Eligibility</a>, which allows officials to use information provided from one state agency to make eligibility determinations for Medicaid, though there are <a href="https://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/express-lane-eligibility-so-why-havent-states-used-it/">good reasons</a> – mostly solvable – why many states haven’t yet. </p>
<p>The U.S.’s social safety net is more a loose patchwork unprepared to handle a crisis like the pandemic, relying on disconnected public programs and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/841682627/cobol-cowboys-aim-to-rescue-sluggish-state-unemployment-systems">old technology</a>. The federal government is relying on short-term measures directed to those affected by the crisis, but we believe it does little to address the plight of those who were already economically vulnerable and those who will be long after this pandemic.</p>
<p>Disaster preparedness isn’t just the National Guard, personal protective equipment and bottled water anymore. This pandemic has shown that it is now also the ability to keep people economically afloat through a potentially prolonged and sudden financial crisis.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Shafer has received funding in the past three years from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, and the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cecille Joan Avila does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A loose patchwork of measures and systems has left millions at risk of slipping through the cracks as the pandemic’s economic downturn hits.Paul Shafer, Assistant Professor, Health Law, Policy, and Management, Boston UniversityCecille Joan Avila, Policy Analyst, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230982019-09-11T20:07:13Z2019-09-11T20:07:13ZHow philosophy 101 could help break the deadlock over drug testing job seekers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291875/original/file-20190911-190012-10y0t3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Proponents and critics of drug testing welfare recipients are repeating the same arguments. Here's how to break the deadlock.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/thumbs-down-yes-no-concept-477959560?src=hEcJtdyt3i4lVuN29VAxTg-1-3">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The proposal to drug test welfare recipients keeps on bouncing back. The most recent attempt, <a href="https://www.anneruston.com.au/media_release_drug_testing_trials_to_help_welfare_recipients_become_job_ready">announced last week</a>, is now the third proposal since 2017. </p>
<p>But the tenacity with which the government is pursuing this agenda reflects, not necessarily a fixed policy position, but rather a moral stance. And this moral stance conflicts with that of the proposals’ critics.</p>
<p>Are we doomed to countless repeats of the same policy proposal? Or, as the <a href="https://www.aspc.unsw.edu.au/">Australian Social Policy Conference</a> heard in Sydney this week, can we use philosophical arguments to help break the deadlock?</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Why are we seeing a similar policy proposal again, the third in recent years?.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What’s proposed?</h2>
<p>These proposals are examples of <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Welfare-Conditionality/Watts-Fitzpatrick/p/book/9781138119918">welfare conditionality</a>. In other words, welfare participants need to meet certain conditions or behave in certain ways to receive their payments.</p>
<p>Drug testing welfare recipients was originally <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5927">proposed in 2017</a>, failed to get support, then proposed again in 2018 and stalled in the Senate.</p>
<p>This third attempt <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/09/scott-morrison-says-he-is-puzzled-by-opposition-to-welfare-drug-testing">has only very minor changes</a> from the original two versions: additional testing for heroin and cocaine, and the removal of the requirement for welfare recipients to pay for positive test results.</p>
<p>These changes are part of the proposal to randomly drug test 5,000 new recipients of Newstart and Youth Allowance at three sites in NSW, Qld and WA. A positive drug test would lead to 24 months of income management. </p>
<p>Another positive test would lead to a medical assessment, and where indicated, rehabilitation, counselling or ongoing drug tests.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/income-management-doesnt-work-so-lets-look-at-what-does-34792">Income management doesn't work, so let's look at what does</a>
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<h2>The ‘pro testing’ philosophy</h2>
<p>Three moral positions sit behind the proposal to drug test welfare recipients: contractualism, paternalism and communitarianism.</p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/contractualism/">Contractualism</a> says the relationship between citizens and the state should be based on reciprocal agreement, with mutual obligations. In other words, people who receive income support should be subject to conditions.</p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/paternalism/">Paternalism</a> enables those conditions to be ones where someone is protected from the consequences of their own poor decision-making (such as taking an illicit drug).</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-dont-need-no-moral-education-five-things-you-should-learn-about-ethics-30793">We don’t need no (moral) education? Five things you should learn about ethics</a>
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<p>And this is morally justifiable in the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/communitarianism/">communitarian</a> sense of the importance of community solidarity and social cohesion. In other words, the collective good — however this may be defined but in this particular case the integrity of the social security system — is greater than any individual freedoms or rights to privacy, such as drug-taking. This communitarianism position does seem at odds with the government’s approach to individualism and freedoms in other areas. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansardr/ca60e75d-8c6e-44a5-9c6a-b48e89bff4f1/&sid=0209">typical example</a>, from the National Party’s Mark Coulton in 2018, reflects policy debate using paternalism, mutual obligation and communitarianism:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The community has the right to expect that taxpayer funded welfare payments are not being used to fund drug addiction.</p>
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<p>Combining these three positions appears to give the proposal to drug test welfare recipients an unassailable moral foundation.</p>
<h2>What do the critics say?</h2>
<p>Critics of the proposals have outlined their concerns about drug testing welfare recipients <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/DrugTestingTrial/Submissions">in Senate submissions</a>, and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cashless-welfare-card-trial-not-working-drug-and-alcohol-centre-says-20190910-p52pv5.html">in the media</a>.</p>
<p>Concerns have included the <a href="https://theconversation.com/drugs-dont-affect-job-seeking-so-lets-offer-users-help-rather-than-take-away-their-payments-123096">lack of evidence</a> supporting a relationship between drug use and employment, <a href="https://www.jsad.com/doi/full/10.15288/jsads.2019.s18.42">not enough</a> drug treatment programs, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/minister-under-pressure-to-reveal-drug-test-costs/news-story/27d52249c0eac5b4ecd0b6142ef56450">the costs</a> associated with the proposal, and the view that it is <a href="https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/drug-testing-will-stigmatise-welfare-recipients,-s">punitive and discriminatory</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drugs-dont-affect-job-seeking-so-lets-offer-users-help-rather-than-take-away-their-payments-123096">Drugs don't affect job seeking, so let's offer users help rather than take away their payments</a>
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<h2>The critics’ philosophy</h2>
<p>While proponents of drug testing welfare recipients argue from the moral positions of contractualism, paternalism and communitarianism, critics come from a different philosophical standpoint. </p>
<p>Their arguments are largely focused on <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-evidence-for-or-against-drug-testing-welfare-recipients-it-depends-on-the-result-were-after-83641">using evidence</a> to argue the potential harms to testing outweigh the benefits. Philosophically speaking, this would be a <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/">consequentialist</a>, <a href="https://www.iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/">utilitarian</a> moral position. </p>
<p>Opponents <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/DrugTestingTrial/Submissions">also argue</a> (for example, see submission 28) the proposal infringes human rights, which all Australians have a right to receive. This includes the right to social security, privacy, an adequate standard of living, and the right to equality and non-discrimination.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/drug-testing-welfare-recipients-raises-questions-about-data-profiling-and-discrimination-77471">Drug testing welfare recipients raises questions about data profiling and discrimination</a>
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<p>This can be seen in comments such as <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansardr/ca60e75d-8c6e-44a5-9c6a-b48e89bff4f1/&sid=0209">the following</a> from the Greens’ Adam Bandt, also from 2018: </p>
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<p>You don’t lift people out of poverty by taking away their rights.</p>
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<p>And the following from <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/DrugTestingTrial/Submissions">Senate submissions</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is no evidence drug testing of welfare recipients either improves employment outcomes or reduces harms associated with drug taking. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How could we shift the debate?</h2>
<p>The proponents and the opponents effectively slide past each other given these fundamentally different moral positions. For example, no matter how much empirical data shows the harms outweigh the benefits (utilitarianism), the contractualism view does not see this as relevant.</p>
<p>It seems proposals to drug test welfare recipients may be here to stay unless there is a shift in the moral frames.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/history-not-harm-dictates-why-some-drugs-are-legal-and-others-arent-110564">History, not harm, dictates why some drugs are legal and others aren't</a>
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<p>This may mean the critics need to mount effective arguments against paternalism, contractualism and communitarianism.</p>
<p>For example, for paternalism to be ethical, we need to show it can be justified and can actually help someone. This is highly questionable with the drug testing proposal.</p>
<p>We can also argue whether the conditions for contractualism are met. Contractualism is built on the premise of fair <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/reciprocity">reciprocity</a> by both parties (both parties are entering into the “mutual obligation” contract as equals). Given the structural inequality experienced by people with drug problems (such as unequal access to education or health services) the conditions for fair reciprocity may not be met.</p>
<p>If critics are willing to tackle the moral underpinnings of the recent proposals, we may be able to speak to policy makers in a language (and philosophy) they understand. This is essential if we are to block this unjust and discriminatory policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123098/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Ritter receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and conducts commissioned research regarding drug treatment for federal and state governments. </span></em></p>We need to look at what’s behind arguments for and against drug testing welfare recipients to avoid repeating the same debate, over and over.Alison Ritter, Professor & Specialist in Drug Policy, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1212682019-08-01T12:30:54Z2019-08-01T12:30:54ZBenefits stigma putting veterans off claiming after leaving armed forces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286590/original/file-20190801-169714-mki1r8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Boris Johnson recently announced <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-creates-new-office-for-veterans-affairs-to-provide-lifelong-support-to-military-personnel">the creation of the UK’s first-ever Office for Veterans’ Affairs</a>. This new office will focus on lifelong support for those who have served in the armed forces, to ensure no veteran is disadvantaged because of their service. It will make sure veterans “get the medical treatment they require”, along with access to “further training and skills” needed “to keep them in good jobs”. </p>
<p>For the vast majority of those leaving the armed forces, the transition to civilian life is relatively straightforward. But for those who do experience difficulties, <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-misuse-is-more-common-in-the-armed-forces-than-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-110676">the issues can be complex</a>. <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/armed-forces-veterans-homeless-crime-prison-mental-health/">Recent analysis</a> suggests that some 50,000 veterans are coping with mental health conditions and 10,000 are in prison or on probation. While the British Legion estimates that there are about 6,000 homeless veterans in the UK. </p>
<p>So while the government’s move to do more to support veterans in health, employment and training is good news, it fails to recognise that veterans with complex needs will need support from the benefits system at some point during their transition to civilian life. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.fim-trust.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20190610-FiMT-Final-Report-WEB.pdf">our new research</a> –- funded by the <a href="https://www.fim-trust.org/">Forces in Mind Trust</a>, which commissions research on the challenges faced by the armed forces community – found that many veterans find the system bewildering and require additional support to ensure their needs are appropriately met. </p>
<h2>A system of shame</h2>
<p>Throughout our two-year project, we carried out 120 in-depth interviews with veterans and their families. Overwhelmingly, our participants found the benefits system complex and difficult to navigate. They struggled to understand the benefits available along with the conditions attached to continued eligibility. And it was evident that information about the benefits system was largely absent from the information provided when leaving the armed forces. As one veteran explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When you join… you lose track of what’s going on, especially in the benefits system… After 15 years’ service, I came out [and] I’ve ended up on benefits, but it’s a minefield.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286592/original/file-20190801-169684-1tt3i4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Veterans with complex needs reported overwhelmingly negative experiences of the benefits system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Navigating the benefits system was often made more difficult due to <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-surprising-truth-about-benefits-stigma-in-britain/">the stigma attached to claiming benefits</a>. In some cases, this stigma prevented veterans from initially claiming benefits. A number of people we spoke to said benefits had been a “last resort”. One of the participants explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I survived for two years without a penny… I didn’t claim anything, I was totally against it. I was too proud… My first appointment [at] the Jobcentre was horrific. The woman [spoke] to me like I was [a] child that didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning… It is massively degrading, when you do something as proud as serving in the army.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our research also showed how mental and physical health issues can significantly impact some veteran’s ability to enter and sustain paid work. And another significant concern related to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/work-capability-assessment-is-a-toxic-failure-heres-a-better-way-38733">assessments of capability to work</a> that are a feature of the social security system.</p>
<p>Veterans’ experiences of these assessments were overwhelmingly negative – with a perceived focus on physical rather than mental health issues. Many veterans also felt there to be a lack of awareness of service-related impairments. It was also confusing as to why their existing service-related medical information did not appear to feed into the process. As one veteran explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I went in for an assessment with both a medical record and a mental health record. Neither were looked at. Was that person qualified to score me zero without looking at the documents?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>In transition</h2>
<p>Over the course of our project, some veterans had moved from <a href="https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/legacybenefits">legacy benefits</a>, (employment and support allowance, Jobseeker’s allowance) to Universal Credit. All had found this move problematic and highlighted problems with the waiting period for the first payment, reductions in benefit entitlements and <a href="https://theconversation.com/military-veterans-should-not-be-subject-to-benefits-sanctions-new-study-95168">difficulties with the online system</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everything was online… I wasn’t sure what to do, and things weren’t made very clear. I forgot to [logon] to my account and tick a box… so I was sanctioned.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the migration to <a href="https://theconversation.com/universal-credit-is-built-around-flawed-incentives-that-are-doing-real-damage-fixing-it-is-essential-105202">Universal Credit</a> continues, there is no better time to ensure that the benefits system is appropriately supporting those who have served in the armed forces – ensuring that information on the UK social security system is included as a routine part of the resettlement support would be a good start. As would changes to the assessment process to ensure that assessors have an understanding of service-related impairments. </p>
<p>More importantly, the notion that claiming benefits is a “failure” for ex-service personnel needs to change. Without such changes, veterans will continue to struggle within the benefits system. And the government will fail on the commitments made to those who have served their country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Scullion received funding for a project called ‘Sanctions, Support and Service Leavers: Welfare Conditionality and Transitions from Military to Civilian Life’. This was funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), a £35 million funding scheme run by the FiMT using an endowment awarded by the Big Lottery Fund.</span></em></p>Spare a thought for Britain’s veterans navigating the minefield that is the UK’s benefits system.Lisa Scullion, Professor of Social Policy, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1120892019-02-27T12:33:32Z2019-02-27T12:33:32ZSkint Britain: response to series about life on Universal Credit shows government is still not listening<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261220/original/file-20190227-150715-1uupvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trevor, Tamsyn and Tracey: struggling to survive on Universal Credit. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Ansett via Channel 4</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s customary to celebrate with cake. We all do it. Even the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Job Centre Plus offices across the country have been marking the roll-out of Universal Credit with big slabs of <a href="https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/universal-credit-stormont-cake-bill-15601218">cake</a>. But, for many people the introduction of Universal Credit, a new social security benefit replacing six previous benefits, is anything but cause for celebration. </p>
<p>The many flaws with the benefit are starkly depicted in Channel 4’s series <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/skint-britain-friends-without-benefits">Skint Britain</a>, which explores just what living on Universal Credit can entail. The show follows people like David, forced to survive on £5 for a month after a benefit sanction, and Tracey who is unable to access support for her serious cancer prognosis. Their stories are mirrored in the wide and growing evidence documenting the hardship caused by Universal Credit, which is associated with <a href="https://www.trusselltrust.org/what-we-do/research-advocacy/universal-credit-and-foodbank-use/">rising food bank use</a> and can all-too often trigger <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/universal-credit_uk_5c2653fae4b08aaf7a901ba4">increased poverty</a> and even destitution. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universal-credit-is-built-around-flawed-incentives-that-are-doing-real-damage-fixing-it-is-essential-105202">Universal Credit is built around flawed incentives that are doing real damage – fixing it is essential</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As the first episode of Skint Britain aired, the DWP’s press office issued a series of <a href="https://twitter.com/dwppressoffice/status/1095791806258786306">tweets</a>, which sought to sell Universal Credit as a positive and necessary step forward. </p>
<p>In one tweet, the DWP emphasised how Universal Credit’s system of monthly payments is designed to reflect the <a href="https://twitter.com/dwppressoffice/status/1095804183813517313">world of work</a>. Claimants are “helped” into the habit of monthly budgeting to better prepare them for the “reality” of life in paid work. However, as researchers have <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/social-policy-and-society/article/universal-credit-assumptions-contradictions-and-virtual-reality/4F8BC473BBBD6733F9A0E31D71051E8C">pointed out</a>, while the government says that three out of four employees are paid monthly, this means that one in four is not. While a fixed monthly salary is the common experience of employees in professional and managerial employment, the frequency of wage payments varies for those who work according to hourly rates and varying shift patterns while juggling caring commitments which don’t fit easily into the rigid monthly framework set by Universal Credit.</p>
<p>The DWP’s social media activity also flagged adjustments made to the benefit, such as the removal of the seven day waiting period before a claim can be made. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1095792684457963523"}"></div></p>
<p>But claimants still face <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-its-like-to-transition-on-to-universal-credit-85190">a minimum wait of five weeks</a> for their first payment. And five weeks can be a very long time to wait when you are living on no income. </p>
<p>While claimants can access a 100% advance during the five-week wait, any advances received must be repaid back over the subsequent year, which will reduce a person’s monthly entitlement and so often push them into further poverty. Only claimants who meet the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-advances">eligibility criteria</a> can receive advances. On Skint Britain, a DWP telephone advisor informs cancer patient Tracey that she is not eligible to receive an advance, and that she is out of options for monetary support. </p>
<h2>Not fit for purpose</h2>
<p>Further tweets from the DWP emphasised that <a href="https://twitter.com/dwppressoffice/status/1095794065260589059">benefit sanctions are a “last resort”</a>, and something which existed prior to Universal Credit. In fact, <a href="http://www.cpag.org.uk/david-webster">statistical analysis</a> of rates of sanctions shows that Universal Credit has seen far higher frequency of sanctioning than under the six benefits that it replaces. Too often, people are sanctioned for what seem like minor infringements: simple mistakes which then have significant and long-lasting <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universal-credit-perpetuates-the-false-equation-between-public-and-private-debt-105686">financial repercussions</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-real-life-accounts-of-the-effect-of-benefits-sanctions-46500">Two real-life accounts of the effect of benefits sanctions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is a jarring disconnect between the reality of life for those in receipt of Universal Credit and the DWP’s efforts to draw a picture of a benefit that is fit for purpose. The newly appointed secretary of state for work and pensions, Amber Rudd, has promised to <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-11-19/debates/C08F7C18-E3D5-47DE-98AC-2CF0587FD472/OralAnswersToQuestions">listen “very carefully”</a> to concerns about Universal Credit. But the DWP’s response to Skint Britain appears to be a tone-deaf defence of the system, which is as dogmatic as it is unpersuasive. The official lines and simplistic presentation parroted in these tweets suggest that Rudd’s promise may amount to little more than political rhetoric. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260742/original/file-20190225-26177-ephxlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260742/original/file-20190225-26177-ephxlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260742/original/file-20190225-26177-ephxlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260742/original/file-20190225-26177-ephxlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260742/original/file-20190225-26177-ephxlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260742/original/file-20190225-26177-ephxlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260742/original/file-20190225-26177-ephxlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">David and his dog Benson featured Skint Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Ansett via Channel 4</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sadly, this doesn’t give us much hope for the next stage of Universal Credit’s roll-out, which will move three million more claimants on to the new benefit. This process has been delayed to allow the DWP to “test and learn” from a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/amber-rudd-sets-out-fresh-approach-to-universal-credit">pilot of 10,000 claimants</a>. But the government fail to recognise the dissonance between the political assumptions on which Universal Credit is built and the reality of claimants’ lives. Paired with the <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rolling-out-Universal-Credit-Summary.pdf">definitive evidence</a> that discredits its flawed approach to reform of the social security system, this makes us fear that very little is likely to change. </p>
<p>Rather than test and learn, the DWP needs to start to listen and learn. Listening to claimants themselves, such as those interviewed for Skint Britain, would be a very good place to start. Then, and only then, might the celebration of Universal Credit’s continued roll-out with cake seem like anything other than a very cruel joke.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ciara Fitzpatrick received funding for her PhD from the Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland) between 2014 - 2018. She was also recently funded by the Legal Education Fund / Joseph Rowntree Foundation (alongside colleagues at Ulster University) to draft a report on "Destitution and Paths to Justice". She is currently a recipient of a small research grant from the Socio-Legal Studies to carry out an examination of "In-work conditionality and the ageing worker in Northern Ireland". </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Patrick is currently working with Dr Mark Simpson and colleagues at Ulster University on a participatory research project looking at the rollout of Universal Credit in Northern Ireland, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Ruth is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>Defensive responses on Twitter from the Department of Work and Pensions to the Channel 4 series Skint Britain appear tone-deaf.Ciara Fitzpatrick, PhD Candidate and Research and Policy Officer at Law Centre NI, Ulster UniversityRuth Patrick, Lecturer in Social Policy & Social Work, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1052962019-02-25T19:08:26Z2019-02-25T19:08:26ZWhat 1,100 Australians told us about living with debt they can’t repay<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260609/original/file-20190225-26174-imodlt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unemployment and underemployment, as well as physical and mental health problems, were the most common experiences of people falling behind on debts.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two thirds of Australian adults feel <a href="http://www.csi.edu.au/media/Financial_Resilience_Part_One.pdf">financially insecure</a>. Almost one in two have less than three months’ income saved, and almost one in three have less than one month’s income. One in seven have negligible or no savings, meaning that <a href="http://financialrights.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/FRLC-Factsheet-Financial-Hardship.pdf">financial hardship</a> – being unable to pay debts when they fall due – is just a bill away. </p>
<p>This is something that rightly concerns policy makers. Yet for all the attention given to the problem – for example, in the recently completed Senate <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/Creditfinancialservices">inquiry into financial services</a> targeted at Australians at risk of financial hardship – there is little empirical research on the topic in Australia to help inform policy responses. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-regulation-be-aimed-at-saving-the-payday-borrower-from-themselves-56611">Should regulation be aimed at saving the payday borrower from themselves?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To address this gap, we conducted Australia’s first large-scale study on the experiences of people in financial hardship. We <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3275131">surveyed</a> 1,101 Australian adults who had been unable to pay a debt when it fell due within the previous two years.</p>
<p>The results must be interpreted carefully, as certain groups – such as people who spoke a language other than English at home, and people aged under 25 – were underrepresented.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, our findings clearly contradict a popular belief that debt problems are mostly due to poor choices. They also shed light on the profound impact that financial hardship – from temporary shortfalls in earnings to severe and ongoing deprivation – has on health, relationships and overall quality of life.</p>
<h2>Key survey groups</h2>
<p>Of our 1,101 respondents:</p>
<ul>
<li>480 (43.6%) were “wage recipients”, their main source of income being wages paid by an employer.</li>
<li>402 (36.5%) were “Centrelink recipients”, their income coming primarily from social security payments (for example, the Newstart Allowance for the unemployed, the Disability Support Pension, or the Age Pension).</li>
<li>76 (6.9%) received both wages paid by an employer and a Centrelink payment.</li>
<li>143 (13.0%) had income coming from other sources, such as earnings from their own business, superannuation, and financial assistance from family or friends.</li>
</ul>
<p>The median income for Centrelink recipients was A$19,981. For wage recipients, it was A$44,876.</p>
<p>The large representation of wage recipients in our sample shows that employment is no guarantee against financial hardship. Nor is educational attainment, with more than one third of wage recipients in our survey having a bachelor’s degree or higher.</p>
<h2>Tipping points for financial hardship</h2>
<p>We asked respondents about their experiences in the year before they fell behind with repayments. The most common experiences were unemployment and underemployment, as well as physical and mental health problems. Significantly less prevalent were factors such as gambling or alcohol and drug addiction.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260641/original/file-20190225-26149-1vovm1g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260641/original/file-20190225-26149-1vovm1g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260641/original/file-20190225-26149-1vovm1g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260641/original/file-20190225-26149-1vovm1g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260641/original/file-20190225-26149-1vovm1g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260641/original/file-20190225-26149-1vovm1g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260641/original/file-20190225-26149-1vovm1g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9GgqH/2/">datawrapper</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>These results suggest financial hardship can affect anyone, regardless of how personally disciplined they are. </p>
<p>As one respondent told us: “I’m not badly off ($70,000 a year), but I’ve developed two autoimmune conditions on top of a preexisting neurological condition. Medication is expensive, and so are consultations with specialists […] I know how to manage my money, but there are more costs than money coming in […] It’s taught me not to judge people with money problems.”</p>
<h2>Less income, more hardship</h2>
<p>Falling behind with repayments was a stressful and isolating experience for our respondents, no matter their level of income.</p>
<p>But Centrelink recipients are far more vulnerable, as their incomes leave no margin for unexpected expenses. </p>
<p>“The reason we got in trouble was because the car broke down,” explained one respondent living on a Disability Support Pension. “It was just before Christmas, and all the bills came in together.”</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260860/original/file-20190225-26156-14e8fo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260860/original/file-20190225-26156-14e8fo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260860/original/file-20190225-26156-14e8fo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260860/original/file-20190225-26156-14e8fo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260860/original/file-20190225-26156-14e8fo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260860/original/file-20190225-26156-14e8fo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260860/original/file-20190225-26156-14e8fo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mLs3s/6/">datawrapper</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Respondents told us that being in debt negatively affected their health, relationships, community involvement, and ability to look for work or finish their education. </p>
<p>“It’s the anxiety,” said one respondent. “Not knowing from week to week whether the debts will all be able to be paid.” </p>
<h2>Coping by cutting down</h2>
<p>Most of our respondents sought to cope with their situation by reducing spending on food, recreation, utilities, medical care and transport. Just over a third borrowed money from family or friends. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260947/original/file-20190226-150718-1fomun6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260947/original/file-20190226-150718-1fomun6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260947/original/file-20190226-150718-1fomun6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260947/original/file-20190226-150718-1fomun6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260947/original/file-20190226-150718-1fomun6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260947/original/file-20190226-150718-1fomun6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260947/original/file-20190226-150718-1fomun6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/USaYR/3/">datawrapper</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Many wage recipients mentioned cutting down on “extravagances” such as restaurants, alcohol and take-away foods. However, higher proportions of Centrelink recipients were forced to cut down on essentials such as food, heating and medical care. </p>
<p>“I do not have any money for food,” said one respondent living on the Newstart Allowance. “I never thought we would be in this situation.” </p>
<h2>Assistance for low-income debtors</h2>
<p>Consumer protection laws allow Australians in financial hardship to negotiate moratoriums, payment plans and other arrangements (sometimes known as “<a href="http://www.ndh.org.au/Debt-solutions/Negotiate-payment-terms">hardship variations</a>”) with creditors including banks, energy, water and telecommunications companies. </p>
<p>But just a quarter of our respondents used these provisions to obtain a hardship arrangement from an energy or water company, and only 14.3% used them to obtain assistance from a bank or other credit provider. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/debt-agreements-and-how-to-avoid-unnecessary-debt-traps-84072">Debt agreements and how to avoid unnecessary debt traps</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It is also questionable whether low-income debtors benefit from such arrangements, which tend to be very short-term.</p>
<p>Our results indicate a need to broaden the accessibility of assistance for low-income debtors – for example, by increasing funding for free <a href="https://www.financialcounsellingaustralia.org.au/Corporate/Find-a-Counsellor">financial counselling</a> services.</p>
<p>Another measure, recommended by the <a href="https://www.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DAE-Analysis-of-the-impact-of-raising-benefit-rates-FINAL-4-September-...-1.pdf">Australian Council of Social Service</a> <a href="http://ceda.com.au/Research-and-policy/All-CEDA-research/Research-catalogue/How-unequal-Insights-on-inequality">and</a> <a href="https://salvos.org.au/about-us/news-and-stories/media-newsroom/its-time-to-kick-start-newstart/">others</a>, is increasing the amount of Newstart and other Centrelink allowances.</p>
<p>Financial hardship can affect almost anyone. However, severe and ongoing debt problems are an inevitability for Australians whose incomes are simply too low to meet the cost of living.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evgenia Bourova is the Research Fellow for the Financial Hardship Project, which is funded by the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Ramsay receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Ali receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Australia’s first large-scale study on the experiences of people in financial hardship contradict the idea most debt problems are due to poor choices.Evgenia Bourova, Research Fellow (Financial Exclusion, Poor Insurer Practices and Consumer Protection Project), The University of MelbourneIan Ramsay, Emeritus Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of MelbournePaul Ali, Associate professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/988932018-09-27T12:21:28Z2018-09-27T12:21:28ZAdvice is a lifeline for people claiming benefits – but support services are under threat from cutbacks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238185/original/file-20180926-48653-1h4uczg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-women-filling-out-paperwork-agreement-225147733?src=X65GXyokuFUlZlWzADggnw-1-4">Bignai/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Controversial changes to disability welfare benefits have left many ill and disabled people unable to access the support they need. In his speech to the Labour Party conference, the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn, <a href="https://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/diary/jeremy-corbyn-addresses-2018-labour-conference-leaders-speech-full">spoke of</a> how benefit assessments had “created a ‘hostile environment’ for disabled people”. </p>
<p>My own recent research demonstrates how free advice services are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/sk6jY9hWUH7QsWzy68MP/full">an essential lifeline for ill and disabled people</a>. Yet advice services are under threat from continued austerity and local council funding cuts, even though advice <a href="https://www.bath.ac.uk/publications/proving-the-value-of-advice-a-study-of-the-impact-of-citizens-advice-bureau-cab-services/attachments/citizens-advice-bureau.pdf">saves money in the long term</a> by preventing escalating debt, mental health issues, self-harm, suicide and homelessness. </p>
<p>The continued rollout of Universal Credit, which is <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pm-told-to-rescue-universal-credit-with-an-extra-3bn-r6gd6nxr6">costing more</a> and more, has <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rolling-out-Universal-Credit.pdf">increased demand</a> for advisory services. But advice services could soon face further funding pressures. The County Council Network recently predicted an additional <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45573921">£1 billion of savings</a> may be required from council budgets in England by 2020, which it warned could lead to “unpalatable cutbacks”.</p>
<p>For our <a href="http://opus.bath.ac.uk/39052/5/SWF_Proving_our_Value_CAB_Bath_April_2014_1.pdf">research</a> on the social impact of advice services, my colleagues and I interviewed 80 people who needed help from a Citizens Advice Bureau in the west of England. Around a quarter of those we spoke to needed advice for Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Under current plans, ESA is being rolled into <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition-quick-guide/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition">Universal Credit</a>, while PIP and DLA is paid alongside it for those eligible for additional support because of their illness or disability.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/sk6jY9hWUH7QsWzy68MP/full">22 disability benefit cases</a> we analysed, advice led to increases in people’s income in 18 cases, with three unsuccessful appeals, and one case ongoing when our research was completed. People with illnesses or disabilities were often in situations of debt or severe poverty, and some did not have enough money for rent, food and bills.</p>
<p>After getting advice, they were able to manage their debt problems more successfully, and some were prevented from becoming homeless. Some people who needed advice about disability benefit appeals said that they would have needed in-patient psychiatric care or would have been at serious risk of suicide or self-harm without advice. One person who needed support for an appeal said advice “was a godsend”.</p>
<p>I was struck by their desperate situations, so studied their experiences in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/sk6jY9hWUH7QsWzy68MP/full">more depth</a>. One man with a physical health condition needed advice with an appeal. His benefits had been cut off after a work capability assessment. He said he felt “victimised” and “picked on” and was at risk of homelessness because his housing benefit had been stopped:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If it wasn’t for the (advice services) I don’t think I would have got through the last year, to tell you the truth.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Advisers’ knowledge and experience of the benefits system helped people contest injustices in benefit assessment decisions. Advisers advocated for clients’ rights, reinstating people’s basic income. Some people felt that they wouldn’t have been able to navigate the disability benefits system without this support. One man with mental health difficulties who didn’t have enough money for gas, electricity and food, was appealing against an ESA decision, and said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t know anyone else who can help me, and I don’t know how to go about doing anything myself.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Advice services cuts means more pain</h2>
<p>Free advice services have traditionally been funded by legal aid and local councils. Both have had their funding slashed by the government. Ministry of Justice figures show a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/legal-aid-cuts-benefits-cases-state-help-dla-esa-ministry-justice-disability-living-allowance-a8028936.html">99.5%</a> reduction in the number of people receiving state legal help in benefits cases, from 83,000 in the 2012-13 financial year to 440 in 2016-17. </p>
<p>Some advice centres face up to <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristol/policy-briefings/value-of-advice/">80% cuts from local authority funds</a>. When we were doing our research, the Citizens Advice Bureau we worked with was threatened with a 55% reduction in its local government funding. While there was a local campaign to fight this, which limited the cuts to 25%, over time the bureau has lost considerable funding – from <a href="http://www.citizensadvicebanes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Annual-report-2015-162.pdf">around £900,000 a year to £500,000</a> a year between 2011 and 2016. Nationally, 100 Citizens Advice Bureaux branches have either <a href="https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/gillian-guy-citizens-advice-moving-times/management/article/1334855">closed or been lost</a> as a result of mergers since 2009.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238195/original/file-20180926-48634-hkqw23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238195/original/file-20180926-48634-hkqw23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238195/original/file-20180926-48634-hkqw23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238195/original/file-20180926-48634-hkqw23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238195/original/file-20180926-48634-hkqw23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238195/original/file-20180926-48634-hkqw23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238195/original/file-20180926-48634-hkqw23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protest against personal independent payments in Norwich in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerblackwell/28547605942/sizes/l">Roger Blackwell/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRPD/CRPD.C.15.R.2.Rev.1-ENG.doc">UN inquiry</a> into the impact of welfare policies on the rights of disabled people found that information and advice about disability benefits in the UK is limited, inaccessible or non-existent. </p>
<h2>A dysfunctional system</h2>
<p>Our research showed how bad decisions during health assessments for benefits can lead to severe poverty, stress, anxiety and further ill health. The impact of a wrong decision can have <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/Public%20Accounts/Contracted%20out%20health%20and%20disability%20assessments/written/28241.html">devastating consequences</a>, increasing risks of homelessness, inability to pay for food, alongside <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10597-016-0012-8">worsening illness</a>. More generally, the health and disability benefit assessment process has been <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2015-206209">independently associated</a> with increases in suicides, self-reported mental health problems and prescriptions of antidepressants. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-its-like-to-transition-on-to-universal-credit-85190">What it's like to transition on to Universal Credit</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Central government has spent <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/news-parliament-2017/pip-esa-full-report-17-19/">hundreds of millions of pounds</a> defending their benefit decisions for individual claimants. Yet nationally, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/740313/Tribunal_and_GRC_statistics_Q1_201819_.pdf">71%</a> of appeals against ESA and PIP decisions are successful. A review, announced in January, of all PIP applications could cost <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42862904">£3.7 billion by 2023</a>. </p>
<p>Private companies that assess disability benefit applications have received <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmpubacc/727/727.pdf">increased fees</a>, while universally <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmworpen/829/829.pdf">missing quality targets</a>.
Meanwhile, the government’s health and disability welfare reforms <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/news-parliament-2017/pip-esa-full-report-17-19/">have not met their aims</a> and advice services are <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristol/policy-briefings/value-of-advice/">struggling to meet</a> the growing demand to help people caught up in the fallout. </p>
<p>There is already abundant <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmworpen/829/829.pdf">national evidence</a> on the problems of the government’s approach to disability benefit assessment. The current contracts for the companies that carry out disability benefit assessments are <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmworpen/829/82909.htm#_idTextAnchor049">coming to an end</a> in 2019-20, which provides a new opportunity to listen to people’s experiences and put claimants at the heart of the system. Otherwise, more vulnerable people will be at risk, with little support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98893/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The University of Bath, where Michelle Farr worked as a Research Associate, received funding from the Big Lottery, South West Forum Proving Our Value programme, to evaluate the social impact of advice services. In-kind support came from advice service staff and volunteers, without whom this research would not have been possible.</span></em></p>Advice saves lives and provides vital support to people seeking benefits, but severe cuts mean vulnerable people are at risk.Michelle Farr, Senior Research Associate, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/916642018-03-05T19:21:52Z2018-03-05T19:21:52ZHome ownership foundations are being shaken, and the impacts will be felt far and wide<p>The nature of the centrepiece of the Australian housing system – owner occupation – is quietly <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8462.12220/abstract">undergoing a profound transformation</a>. Once taken for granted by the mainstream, home ownership is increasingly precarious. At the margins, which are wide, it is as if a whole new form of tenure has emerged. </p>
<p>Whatever the drivers, significant and lasting shifts are shaking the foundations of home ownership. The effects are far-reaching and could undermine both the financial and wider well-being of all Australian households. </p>
<p>Over the course of 100 years, Australians became accustomed to smooth housing pathways from leaving the parental home to owning their house outright. However, not only did the 2008-09 global financial crisis (GFC) underline the risk of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098014550955">dropping out</a> along the way, but more recent Australian evidence has shown that the old pathways have been displaced by more uncertain routes that <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-less-likely-to-survive-home-ownership-than-britons-45363">waver between owning and renting</a>. </p>
<p>The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey indicates that, during the first decade of the new millennium, <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/216">1.9 million spells</a> of home ownership ended with a move into renting (one-fifth of all home ownership spells that were ongoing in that period). It also shows that among those who dropped out, nearly two-thirds had returned to owning by 2010. Astonishingly, some 7% “churned” in and out of ownership more than once. Many households no longer either own or rent; they hover between sectors in a “third” way. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/187">drivers</a> of this transformation include an ongoing imperative to own, vying with the factors that oppose this – rising divorce rates, soaring house prices, growing mortgage debt, insecure employment and other circumstances that make it difficult to meet home ownership’s outlays. </p>
<p>Those who use <a href="https://theconversation.com/your-home-as-an-atm-home-equity-a-risky-welfare-tool-22000">the family home as an “ATM”</a> are at added risk. This relatively new way of juggling mortgage payments, savings and pressing spending needs makes some styles of owner occupation more marginal – as the tendency is to borrow up, rather than pay down, mortgage debts over the life course.</p>
<h2>A retirement incomes system under threat</h2>
<p>Since its inception, the means-tested age pension system has been set at a low fixed amount. Retired Australians could nevertheless get by provided they achieved <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/187">outright home ownership soon enough</a>. The low housing costs associated with outright ownership in older age were effectively a central plank of Australian social policy.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208828/original/file-20180304-65541-102taz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The retirement incomes system was built on assumptions about home ownership that are increasingly unreliable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/married-couple-retirement-age-sitting-on-767669734?src=Bw1ze7qqtza4zwgD8hIGcw-5-63">Evgeniy Kalinovskiy/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This worked well from the 1950s for nearly half a century. But now growing numbers of <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/position-papers/153">people retire with a mortgage debt overhang</a> or as <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/156">lifetime renters</a> grappling with the costs of insecure private rental tenancies.</p>
<p>Moreover, developments in the Australian housing system could undermine a second retirement incomes pillar – the superannuation guarantee. An important <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/programs-and-initiatives-superannuation/charter-of-superannuation-adequacy/report/part-4/">goal of the superannuation guarantee is financial independence in old age</a>. But if superannuation pay-outs are used to repay mortgage debts on retirement, reliance on age pensions will grow rather than recede.</p>
<h2>A shrinking asset base for welfare</h2>
<p>Home ownership is retreating at a time when income inequalities are the <a href="http://wid.world/country/australia">highest in nearly seven decades</a> and governments are eyeing housing wealth as an <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/housing-decisions-older-australians">asset base for welfare</a>. </p>
<p>Such policy interest is not surprising. Housing wealth dominates the asset portfolios of the majority of Australian households, boosted by soaring house prices. If home owners can be encouraged or even compelled to draw on their housing assets to fund spending needs in retirement, this will ease fiscal pressures in an era of population ageing. </p>
<p>However, the welfare role of home ownership is already important in the earlier stages of life cycles. Financial products are increasingly being used to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02673037.2013.7832020">release housing equity</a> in pre-retirement years. This adds to the debt overhang as retirement age approaches. It also increases exposure to credit and investment risks that could undermine stability in housing markets.</p>
<h2>A gender equity issue</h2>
<p>A commonly overlooked angle relates to gender equity. Australian women own less wealth than men, and they also hold more housing-centric asset portfolios. </p>
<p>Estimates from the 2014 HILDA Survey wealth module show that the family home makes up <a href="http://theconversation.com/women-rely-on-the-family-home-to-support-them-in-old-age-76703">nearly half of the total assets owned by single women</a>, compared to 39% for single men. Women are also more likely to <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/217">sell their family home</a> to pay for financial emergencies. </p>
<p>Hence, women are more exposed to housing market instability associated with precarious home ownership. Single women are especially vulnerable to investment risk when they seek to realise their assets.</p>
<h2>A neglected economic lever</h2>
<p>Housing and mortgage markets played a central role in the GFC. Today, it is widely agreed that resilient housing and mortgage markets are important for overall economic and financial stability. There are also concerns that the post-GFC debt overhang is a drag on economic growth.</p>
<p>However, the policy stance in the wake of the GFC has been “<a href="https://tannerlectures.utah.edu/lecture-library.php#s">business as usual</a>”. There has been very little real innovation in the world of housing finance or mortgage contract design in recent years. This might change if housing were steered from the periphery to a more central place in national economic debates. </p>
<h2>Forward-looking policy response is needed</h2>
<p>Growing numbers of Australians clearly face an uncertain future in a changing housing system. The traditional tenure divide has been displaced by unprecedented fluidity as people juggle with costs, benefits, assets and debts “in between” renting and owning. </p>
<p>This expanding arena is strangely neglected by policy instruments and financial products. Politicians cling to an outdated vision of linear housing careers that does little to meet the needs of “at risk” home owners, locked-out renters, or churners caught between the two. </p>
<p>The hazards of a destabilising home ownership sector are wide-ranging, rippling well beyond the realm of housing. Part of the answer is a new drive for sustainability, based on a housing system for Australia that is more inclusive and less tenure-bound.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Ong has received funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Wood receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Smith has received funding from the ARC, AHURI, RMIT University and Curtin University, as well as British social science funding agencies, principally the ESRC</span></em></p>Increasingly insecure pathways to home ownership are not just a problem for property markets. The fallout is likely to hit retirement incomes, the welfare base, gender equity and the broader economy.Rachel Ong ViforJ, Professor of Economics, School of Economics and Finance, Curtin UniversityGavin Wood, Emeritus Professor of Housing and Housing Studies, RMIT UniversitySusan Smith, Honorary Professor of Geography, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/900172018-01-18T03:16:18Z2018-01-18T03:16:18ZHunger in the lucky country – charities step in where government fails<p>The non-profit organisation Foodbank released its report <a href="https://www.foodbank.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Foodbank-Hunger-Report-2017.pdf">Fighting Hunger in Australia</a> this month. </p>
<p>Like <a href="http://lyceum.anu.edu.au/wp-content/blogs/3/uploads/Food%20Security_Poll.pdf">earlier research</a> it reported that around 15% of Australians experienced food insecurity – an extraordinary figure given up to <a href="https://www.rabodirect.com.au/-/media/rabodirect-australia/files/fhb/rabodirect_foodandfarming_report_web_oct_2017.pdf?la=en">40%</a> of edible, but <a href="https://link-springer-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/article/10.1007/s10551-016-3181-z">cosmetically imperfect</a>, food is discarded before it reaches the market. </p>
<p>The survey revealed that 3.6 million Australians have experienced food insecurity at least once in the last 12 months. Three in five of those people experience food insecurity at least once a month. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4671e/y4671e06.htm">UN Food and Agriculture Organisation</a> defines food security as: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a condition where all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary preferences for an active and healthy life.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite reasonable <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781137298713">expectations</a> that economic growth in advanced capitalist societies will ensure food security, this is not universal across so-called “wealthy nations”.</p>
<h2>Not-so-lucky country for some</h2>
<p>The problem lies with <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68201/">Australia’s neoliberal political economy</a>, where <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ruth-messinger/food-a-commodity-or-a-hum_b_387581.html">food is a commodity rather than a right</a>. Under these conditions, it is the market, rather than government, that determines access to food.</p>
<p>People who are economically marginalised find themselves increasingly distanced from <a href="http://daa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/58-3-review-paper.pdf">access to nutritious food</a>. With a shortfall in government responses, the non-profit sector has stepped in, patching together a food security safety net. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/successful-failures-the-problem-with-food-banks-86546">'Successful failures' – the problem with food banks</a>
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<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016715300462">Our research</a> examined institutional approaches to poverty and food security, considering entitlements to food in economically advanced countries. In nations where people mainly buy their food rather produce it themselves, purchasing power becomes central to understanding hunger. </p>
<p>Low growth in <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/low-wages-growth-is-the-real-reason-you-are-feeling-the-costofliving-pinch-20171127-gzu2iy.html">wages</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/18/myefo-morrison-unveils-cuts-to-welfare-universities-and-family-payments">cuts to welfare payments</a> mean hunger touches many, including <a href="http://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/16-053.pdf">Indigenous people, unemployed or under-employed families, and welfare recipients</a>. Food is one of the few flexible items in a household budget.</p>
<p>Consistent with the observations of Nobel Prize-winning economist <a href="https://www.prismaweb.org/nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Poverty-and-famines%E2%94%82Amartya-Sen%E2%94%821981.pdf">Amartya Sen</a>, food insecurity is more a symptom of poverty than a lack of availability of food. </p>
<h2>The ‘liberal, Anglo-Saxon model’ of welfare</h2>
<p>In 2016, an Australian Council of Social Service <a href="http://www.acoss.org.au/poverty/">report</a> estimated that 13% of all Australians live below the poverty line. Of those 3 million people, 730,000 are children. The poverty line is set at 50% of the median disposable income for all Australian households. </p>
<p>It is useful to look at the types of welfare in advanced capitalist nations and how these address poverty and access to food. </p>
<p>Danish sociologist <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/4558.html">Esping-Andersen</a> describes Australia’s system as a “liberal, Anglo-Saxon model” of welfare. This model is associated with high levels of social stratification. Public obligation “kicks in” only when there is abject need, demonstrated through strict means testing. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/4558.html">differs</a> from the social-democratic model of welfare capitalism common to Scandinavian countries. There, stratification is lower and an individual has the right to thrive without intervention from family, church or charity. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016715300462">research</a> shows how social-democratic welfare policies lift the standard of living for all. This means citizens of countries such as Norway have rarely required charitable food relief despite high food prices.</p>
<p>In Australia, the federal welfare agency, Centrelink, offers limited relief for the food insecure, such as one-off crisis payments to recipients of benefits. However, increases in the cost of food, energy and housing prices have not been matched by corresponding increases in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2017/nov/02/cost-of-living-pressures-affect-people-on-welfare-more-than-anyone">welfare payments</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/powerful-supermarkets-push-the-cost-of-food-waste-onto-suppliers-charities-54654">Powerful supermarkets push the cost of food waste onto suppliers, charities</a>
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<p>Further, there is no other Australian government policy that deals with domestic food security, despite the nation’s increasing reliance on food charities. </p>
<p>The Australian welfare state does not explicitly guarantee freedom from hunger. Instead food relief is dependent on <a href="https://theconversation.com/powerful-supermarkets-push-the-cost-of-food-waste-onto-suppliers-charities-54654">business donations</a> distributed through the non-profit sector. </p>
<h2>What can be done to alleviate hunger?</h2>
<p>To alleviate hunger, poverty also needs to be alleviated. </p>
<p>There is no quick fix to this, but in the first instance the government needs to take responsibility for poverty and food security as a matter of urgency. No one could argue it is acceptable to have <a href="http://www.acoss.org.au/poverty/">730,000 children</a> living below the poverty line.</p>
<p>Earlier government deliberations on <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/FoodSecurity_web.pdf">food security</a> focused on agricultural production and export to enhance global food security. These have tended to look outward rather than inward. </p>
<p>The abandoned <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-draft-national-food-plan-putting-corporate-hunger-first-8342">National Food Plan</a> was to be the Government’s first food policy designed provide an integrated approach to Australia’s food system. However, this was orientated to a corporate-led food system that overlooked the needs of civil society. </p>
<p>Australia’s welfare system relies heavily on <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016715300462">charity and markets</a>, rather than the state, to respond to the needs of economically marginalised people. This is evident in the collaborations between food banks and supermarkets to redirect food waste to disadvantaged people. </p>
<p>Although responding to immediate need, <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/BFJ-01-2014-0037">food relief does not prevent food insecurity</a>. There is potential to alleviate poverty and prevent food insecurity through Australia’s current welfare model. Unlike the situation for domestic food security policy, income support architecture is already in place. </p>
<p>However, support urgently needs to come into line with the cost of living if we are to recognise food as a right and eliminate first world hunger.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Acknowledgements: Sincere thanks to research collaborators Unni Kjærnes and Jostein Vik who were co-authors on an earlier, related piece: Richards, C., Kjærnes, U. and Vik, J. (2016), Food security in welfare capitalism: Comparing social entitlements to food in Australia and Norway, Journal of Rural Studies, 43 (1), 61-70.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90017/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Richards has received funding from the Norwegian Research Council and the Australian Research Council. She is the Co-Founder of the Brisbane Fair Food Alliance, and a member of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance and the Right to Food Coalition.</span></em></p>Despite Australia being considered the ‘lucky country’, 15% of us still experience food insecurity. Meanwhile, 40% of edible food is thrown away before it even reaches the market.Carol Richards, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/852912017-10-16T15:26:00Z2017-10-16T15:26:00ZA welfare adviser’s view on Universal Credit: a flawed system that emphasises process over people<p>Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been scathing in his criticism of the government’s rollout of Universal Credit. Speaking at prime minister’s questions on October 11, Corbyn <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41580365">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Not only are people being driven into poverty, but absurdly … the Universal Credit helpline costs claimants 55p per minute for the privilege of trying to get someone to help them claim what they believe they’re entitled to. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The move to combine six existing means-tested benefits into a combined monthly payment sounds attractive in principle. The government believes that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-welfare-reform/2010-to-2015-government-policy-welfare-reform">Universal Credit</a> is an essential element of a reformed social security system and will reduce in-work poverty, reduce fraud and error, and simply make a complex system a bit easier to navigate.</p>
<p>Yet the rollout of Universal Credit has been beset with administrative and structural problems. Many advisers working on behalf of claimants have joined <a href="https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-citizens-advice-works/media/press-releases/citizens-advice-calls-for-universal-credit-rollout-to-be-paused-as-research-reveals-people-left-facing-financial-difficulty1/">Citizens Advice</a> to call for a pause to the rollout of Universal Credit to allow the flaws in the system to be ironed out. Work and pensions secretary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/02/heidi-allen-tory-mp-theresa-may-universal-credit">David Gauke</a> rejected these calls for a pause, insisting the rollout will continue with a scheduled end date of 2022.</p>
<p>Those professionals who advise welfare claimants on legal and financial issues are in a unique position to analyse the impact of the rollout of Universal Credit from both a technical perspective, and that of the claimant. Advisers mainly work for third sector or voluntary organisations, local government, trade unions or solicitors. </p>
<p>For many years I worked as an adviser in a local government setting and I now teach students to become welfare advisers at Staffordshire University. We are a member of the <a href="http://www.nawra.org.uk/">National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers</a> (NAWRA), which represents advisers and which <a href="http://www.nawra.org.uk/wordpress/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NAWRA-Universal-credit-inquiry-March-2017.pdf">submitted</a> evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee on Universal Credit in March 2017 on how to make the benefit system work better for claimants. </p>
<p>A significant problem is that Universal Credit is now paid monthly, rather than weekly. Some vulnerable claimants – such as those with learning disabilities or victims of domestic violence – are able to request more frequent payments. They can also have payments split between partners or have the housing cost element of Universal Credit paid directly to the landlord. One possible improvement to the system would be to give all claimants flexibility to request such alternative payment arrangements.</p>
<h2>Computer says no</h2>
<p>The government expects Universal Credit claims to be made and managed online. This can require claimants to access their online account on a daily basis to demonstrate that they are taking steps to secure a job. But alternative ways of managing a claim should be available, for example on the phone or in a face-to-face meeting. There is now growing <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41609991">pressure</a> on the government to make calls to the Universal Credit helpline free. In my view there needs to be a much easier system for claimants to navigate that would prevent people missing out on vital benefit payments.</p>
<p>For those claimants suffering from serious health problems, with significant caring responsibilities, or who don’t speak English, access to appropriate IT facilities is further complicated by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/update-on-the-future-of-dwp-jobcentres">closure of many jobcentres</a> and the lack of capacity for the advice sector to absorb this demand.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190195/original/file-20171013-3545-13w0cmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190195/original/file-20171013-3545-13w0cmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190195/original/file-20171013-3545-13w0cmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190195/original/file-20171013-3545-13w0cmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190195/original/file-20171013-3545-13w0cmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190195/original/file-20171013-3545-13w0cmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190195/original/file-20171013-3545-13w0cmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jobcentres are being closed and merged across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>There can also be issues with how quickly housing costs are paid. Under the previous system, landlords received housing benefit directly – but now Universal Credit recipients must pay their landlords themselves out of their monthly benefit.
Advisers report that many claimants have difficulties in getting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to accept the level of rent they are paying, and this has led to delays in payments to landlords while further evidence is sought. </p>
<h2>Allow helpers to help</h2>
<p>Many claimants report difficulties in communicating with the DWP making even relatively straightforward issues difficult to resolve. Even as a professional advice worker, I’ve found communication with the DWP problematic. Long waits on telephone hotlines are commonplace and there can be a reluctance from DWP agents to share information with an adviser even when a claimant is happy for this to happen.</p>
<p>A sensible suggestion from NAWRA would be to introduce “implicit consent”, allowing advice workers to communicate directly with the DWP on behalf of a claimant. Claiming benefits can be a bewildering process and having the support of an adviser who understands benefit terminology and the complexities of the system can be crucial in securing timely and fair decisions.</p>
<p>One advice worker, <a href="http://www.nawra.org.uk/wordpress/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NAWRA-Universal-credit-inquiry-March-2017.pdf">quoted</a> in NAWRA’s evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>On one occasion I was working with a young, vulnerable adult. He made a claim for Universal Credit and for some reason was not paid his standard allowance after the sixth week. It was eventually paid after eight weeks only when we intervened and rung the helpline together with our customer. The agent apologised and our customer was paid within the three hours. Due to vulnerabilities our tenant was not able to ring the helpline on his own.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Benefit advisers have long called for changes to the benefit system to make it easier to understand and access for claimants. The whole point of Universal Credit is to provide a more streamlined and coherent system. The widely reported problems with the rollout of Universal Credit demonstrate that there is still much work to be done to improve a system that too often emphasises process over people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Machin is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>It was meant to provide a more streamlined and coherent system – but it isn’t working.Richard Machin, Lecturer in Social Welfare Law, Policy and Advice Practice, Staffordshire UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/841532017-09-18T16:38:13Z2017-09-18T16:38:13ZBritain’s unclaimed benefits: four million families miss out on £12.4 billion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186225/original/file-20170915-8071-1kycsz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why aren't people entitled to benefits claiming them?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Up to £12.4 billion of means-tested benefits – including pension credit, housing benefit and jobseekers and employment support allowance – were left unclaimed in 2015-16, according to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/644062/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-2015-16.pdf">new data</a> released by the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions. </p>
<p>Means-tested benefits are designed to ensure a minimum standard of living for Britain’s poorest families. But not all those people eligible are claiming them – in comparison to the near universal take-up rate of the basic state pension and widespread take-up of child benefit (which is taxable only for high earners). </p>
<p>Annual average amounts unclaimed by eligible families vary from an estimated £5,000 per year for those eligible for employment support allowance (for those with a disability or long-term illness), to £2,000 per year for those eligible for pension credit. In a parallel <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/577510/Child_Benefit__Child_Tax_Credit_and_Working_Tax_Credit_Take-up_rates_2014_to_2015.pdf">data series</a> HM Revenue & Customs estimates take-up rates for tax credits – which are paid directly to qualifying low paid workers. </p>
<p>The latest data for 2014-15 adds further to the scale of unclaimed entitlements. The central estimate is that £2.3 billion of child tax credit and £3 billion of working tax credit went unclaimed by 640,000 families and 1.2m families respectively.</p>
<p>Improving take-up rates of means-tested benefits directly reduces poverty. Research <a href="http://www.learningandwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Benefit-Take-Up-Final-Report-Inclusion-proofed-June-2014-pdf.pdf">also suggests</a> that families who top up their income with benefits also have higher levels of health, family well-being, and employment participation and retention.</p>
<h2>Why people don’t claim</h2>
<p>The failure to claim benefits <a href="http://www.learningandwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Benefit-Take-Up-Final-Report-Inclusion-proofed-June-2014-pdf.pdf">stems from</a> a mix of social and economic circumstances, administrative structures, and complex eligibility rules. It may, for example, reflect a lack of awareness about the availability of the benefit or a potential claimant’s expectation that the costs involved in applying for the benefit outweigh the value of any payment. </p>
<p>But there is <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/problems-delivery-benefits-tax-credits-and-employment-services">much evidence</a> that a key factor undermining take-up is the poor design and delivery of the benefits system. Take-up has also been implicitly discouraged by policy changes targeted at some working age groups, especially the short-term unemployed. An increase in conditions and related sanctions are designed to get people into work as quickly as possible and, as a result, make their claims to benefits relatively short-lived. </p>
<p>Plus, the tenor of contemporary media narratives on welfare dependency has <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-our-unconscious-minds-are-prejudiced-against-benefit-claimants-83926">increased the stigma</a> attached to claimants, especially people of working age. Research suggests this stigmatisation <a href="http://www.turn2us.org.uk/PDF/Benefits%20Stigma%20in%20Britain.pdf">is linked to reductions in take-up</a> and a reluctance to claim among potential beneficiaries, notably among pensioners. </p>
<p>The British government is <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef1536en.pdf">unique in Europe</a> in publishing robust annual estimates of benefit and tax credit take-up. The data for 2015-16 gives an insight into which families are at risk of poverty and claim the help from the state that they are entitled to, as the graph below shows. </p>
<p><iframe id="aa2BQ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/aa2BQ/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Take-up rates vary depending on the type of household. For example, while the overall take-up of housing benefit was 77%, it ranged from over 90% for singles with children to only 64% for those eligible in private rented accommodation. And while the main estimate for working tax credit was 65%, only 33% of eligible households without children were claiming it. </p>
<p>The data implies that those with greater entitlements are more likely to claim. A significant change since 2012-13 was a decrease of 11% in means-tested jobseekers allowance caseload take-up – people who are entitled to a benefit but who do not claim it. This may have been due to high employment rates, more stringent conditions attached to claiming unemployment benefit and the early impact of the new universal credit, which for working age people rolls most means-tested benefit entitlements into a single monthly payment.</p>
<h2>Universal credit take-up must be measured</h2>
<p>There are no estimates or commitment yet given to publish take-up data for universal credit, even though it is now claimed by 1.5m people and will, it is estimated, be <a href="http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/UC-caseload-forecasts-supplementary-forecast-information-release.pdf">claimed by nearly 6m households in 2021</a>. One of the supposed principal benefits of universal credit is that it will improve take-up rates by making the system less complicated and easier to deliver.</p>
<p>The evidence on take-up suggests these assumptions are over optimistic. It will take time for awareness to develop about the new rules and regulations involved. </p>
<p>It is unlikely that public and voluntary sector organisations will be able to invest in the additional effort needed to inform potential claimants, front line delivery staff, and related intermediary organisations that assist more disadvantaged groups and communities. There is also a risk that the “default digital delivery” (which means that most universal credit claimants must apply and self-manage their claims online) may reduce and deter take-up among people without access to computers or the skills to navigate digital channels. </p>
<p>Means-tested entitlements will likely remain at the centre of the British welfare system, including for many pensioners. And measures to improve take-up will remain central to national and local poverty-reduction strategies. It’s therefore vital to continue publishing take-up data to gauge the future impact of universal credit and related welfare and pension reforms. </p>
<p>If universal credit take-up rates do not improve as anticipated, the government should establish and state what percentage of eligible people eligible it expects to take it up. Measuring take-up rates would provide an important way to assess the impact of universal credit and help establish a transparent benchmark to measure whether the new system is achieving its objectives of reducing poverty and incentivising work. The government might also consider investing some of the £12.4 billion unspent means-tested benefits to develop new ways to increase take-up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Finn Dan Finn received funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for some of the research drawn on for this article.</span></em></p>Means-tested benefits are designed to ensure a minimum standard of living for Britain’s poorest families.Dan Finn, Emeritus Professor of Social Inclusion, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824572017-08-17T16:30:36Z2017-08-17T16:30:36ZNew research pokes holes in the idea that men don’t look after their kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182074/original/file-20170815-16750-dkx6kx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Men who had to take responsibility for younger siblings growing up were not concerned about conforming to dominant ideas about manhood.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa has one of the highest rates of absent fathers in sub-Saharan Africa. As many as 60% of children in the country under the age of 10 don’t live with their <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/uploads/pageContent/3337/2013febFamily%20Policy.pdf">biological fathers</a>, the second highest rate of absence in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3710932/#S3title">sub-Saharan Africa</a> after Namibia. This compares to one third in the <a href="http://www.fatherhood.org/fatherhood-data-statistics">US</a>.</p>
<p>South Africa’s statistics are influenced by the history of migrant labour. Expropriation of the land of black Africans by colonial authorities, coupled with the levying of taxes, forced men (and later, women) to move to the growing cities to earn an income, while their wives and children stayed in the rural reserves or <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3710932/#S3title">“homelands”</a>.</p>
<p>But there are other factors at play too. These include gender norms about childcare and the different roles attached to fathers and mothers. These norms also generally lead to men – even if they are physically present – making minimal contributions to unpaid care and household work.</p>
<p>A large volume of research – including the Centre for Social Development in Africa’s <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/Absent-fathers-full-report%202013.pdf">“ATM Fathers”</a> – has shown that among both men and women, fathers are widely considered as primarily being responsible for supporting the family financially. These attitudes frequently lead men – or enable them – to sidestep non-financial care responsibilities. </p>
<p>But in a context of <a href="http://www.fin24.com/Economy/jobs-not-grants-only-way-out-of-poverty-says-pali-lehohla-20170807">widespread unemployment</a>, inability to earn an income and fulfil the “provider” role often leads men to <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/Absent-fathers-full-report%202013.pdf">abandon their children</a>. This leaves women with the double burden of being the sole breadwinner as well as the person primarily responsible for unpaid care and household work. This, in turn, reinforces gender inequality as women have less time to pursue market work, education, leisure and civic life, and are expected to sacrifice their own interests for those of children.</p>
<p>But there are men who choose to be involved fully in the care of their children despite economic difficulty. We have done research into the reasons for this involvement, and the different forms that it takes. The <a href="https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/338575">initial research</a> has been done by <a href="https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/342417">Masters students</a> Manon van der Meer and Hylke Hoornstra, and forms part of my PhD which is due to be published early next year. We also examined men’s attitudes towards gender, and how they define their masculine and paternal identities in the context of caring for children. </p>
<p>We found that a significant number of men are doing this in progressive ways - ‘doing’ fatherhood and manhood in ways that differ from the patriarchal archetypes that sustain gender inequality. Their examples point to the possibility of creating a more gender equal society.</p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>The first group of men we interviewed were fathers working in low income jobs in Johannesburg – mostly security guards and fast food restaurant staff. All were cohabiting with their partners and children. Almost all emphasised that providing for the family financially was central to their definitions of a good father. Given their low-paying jobs, they were constantly worried about their inability to do this which often led to feelings of inadequacy as a father.</p>
<p>But most men saw their father roles as encompassing more than just financial provision. Almost all spoke of a need to be available emotionally for their children, and to spend time with them. Most also had no problem with performing care work (such as changing nappies, bathing children, helping children with schoolwork) or household work (cleaning, cooking, laundry, and ironing). But importantly, most saw the mother as primarily responsible for this work, only stepping in to help when asked or required. This was frequently related to gendered ideas about competence: that women were naturally more suited to these tasks.</p>
<p>The second group of men we interviewed were receiving a <a href="http://www.gov.za/services/child-care-social-benefits/child-support-grant">child support grant</a> on behalf of their children. The grant is a means tested monthly cash transfer provided to low-income caregivers to support childcare, and has a value of R380 (around US$29). This group makes up only a fraction of those who get the grants – 98% are women according to data provided by the South African Social Security Agency. </p>
<p>Most of the men we interviewed in Soweto had applied for the grant because a female partner had passed away, or because their female partner was not a South African citizen.</p>
<p>Almost all the men were unemployed. Most put far less emphasis on providing financial support. They considered “being there” for their children – by providing love, guidance and protection – a key component of their masculine and paternal identities. </p>
<p>They frequently described taking care of their children, and not abandoning them or being otherwise neglectful, as central to what it means to be a man.</p>
<p>As with the first group, many in the second group also subscribed to dominant gender norms about who should do what in the household. Care and household work were viewed primarily as mothers’ or women’s responsibility. Nonetheless, almost all regularly carried out these tasks, even those who were either living with female partners or who could rely on the support of female relatives - thus revealing a discrepancy between their beliefs and how they behaved. </p>
<p>Most men in both groups spoke about the pressure to conform to social expectations and the sanctions imposed on them if they didn’t. Sanctions could take the form of disapproval when they were seen to be doing “women’s work”. Also, some men who received the child grant said they were seen as “undateable” by women they encountered at the local social grant offices. </p>
<p>All men said they experienced some form of pressure. But some seemed less bothered by it than others. This was particularly true of those who held gender-equal ideas about “male” and “female” responsibility. Men who had always done this work – for example those who were brought up by single mothers, or who had to take responsibility for younger siblings growing up – were similarly unconcerned about conforming to dominant ideas of what it means to “be a man”.</p>
<h2>Doing gender differently</h2>
<p>Fathers in South Africa are often denigrated for being un-involved and neglectful. But this research sheds light on fathers who, despite significant economic and social pressure, choose to remain involved in meaningful ways in the lives of their children, and to incorporate traditionally feminine behaviours and roles into their own masculine and paternal identities for the well-being of their children. </p>
<p>We hope that the research findings will inspire other men to “do gender” differently – for the benefit of their children and South African women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoheb Khan receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>About 60% of children in South Africa under 10 years don’t live with their biological fathers. But research sheds light on those who despite the pressures remain involved in their children’s lives.Zoheb Khan, Researcher, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/751262017-04-04T02:02:30Z2017-04-04T02:02:30ZGovernments are trapped in a vicious cycle of housing policies and prices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163614/original/image-20170403-16565-8e2wrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Housing has become a central pillar of our welfare system.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether house prices have been inflated by <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/politics/scott-morrison-says-high-house-prices-are-real-not-an-investor-bubble-20170313-guwurn#ixzz4cUbaaK2h">limited supply</a>, or because of transfers to investors and homeowners, government policy is now trapped in a vicious cycle. The wealth accumulated in our houses has become a central part of the retirement system, and the government itself can’t afford for prices to fall.</p>
<p>Generous tax subsidies and <a href="https://theconversation.com/changes-to-the-pension-asset-test-will-ripple-through-the-economy-68483">asset test concessions</a> on the family home have incentivised the accumulation of wealth in property and fuelled demand pressures in the housing market for decades. </p>
<p>Government assistance to home buyers and owners is provided in the form of the <a href="http://www.sro.vic.gov.au/first-home-owner/apply-first-home-owner-grant-fhog">First Home Owners Grants</a>, <a href="http://www.sro.vic.gov.au/first-home-owner/apply-first-home-buyer-duty-reduction">stamp duty concessions</a>, and the family home’s exemption from <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/General/capital-gains-tax/your-home-and-other-real-estate/selling-your-home/">capital gains tax</a>, <a href="https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/taxes-royalties-grants/land-tax/lta000-1.php">land tax</a>, as well as the <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/changes-pension-assets-test">pension</a> and <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/assets#a2">other assets tests</a>. These subsidies and concessions combine to make wealth accumulation in the family home more attractive than other assets.</p>
<p>In many real estate markets, land supply constraints and planning controls can limit urban sprawl while housing demand pressures continue to intensify. Hence, cities such as Sydney have become “pressure cookers” where the subsidies <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/2104/AHURI_Final_Report_No187_Sustaining_home_ownership_in_the_21st_century_emerging_policy_concerns.pdf">result in rising house prices in the face of land supply constraints</a>.</p>
<h2>The policy-price cycle</h2>
<p>The family home has become a cornerstone of the Australian retirement system. Sustained house price increases have allowed government income support to be set at historically low levels in Australia <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14036090510032727?scroll=top&needAccess=true">compared to other countries with lower home ownership rates such as Sweden and the Netherlands</a>. This is based on the assumption that the low-income elderly will be housing asset-rich, and can therefore can get by on smaller pensions.</p>
<p>Indeed, in an era of ageing populations, governments have been encouraging older Australians to tap into their store of housing wealth to <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n2121/pdf/ch13.pdf">fund their own retirement and ease intergenerational fiscal tensions</a>. For instance, the Productivity Commission’s <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/aged-care/report/aged-care-volume2.pdf">aged care equity release scheme</a> recommends elderly home owners draw down against their housing equity to meet aged care costs.</p>
<p>Of course, this only works if house prices continue to rise. </p>
<p>If house prices fall, the cycle gets broken and the family home may no longer be an adequate base for supporting the retirement needs of the wider population. In the event of a long-term decline in house prices, individuals would require greater income support from governments as their personal asset base weakens. This would in turn perpetuate a rise in government social security expenditure.</p>
<h2>Over the long term</h2>
<p>But even if house prices weren’t to decline, there is a paradox at play in this system. In order to maintain a healthy housing asset base for retirees, house prices must remain high. So the policy-price cycle is aimed at sustaining home ownership as a key pillar of the welfare system. However, it has also resulted in housing wealth becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of smaller subgroups. Notably, housing equity is getting concentrated in the hands of older generations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163610/original/image-20170403-16550-3uf443.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163610/original/image-20170403-16550-3uf443.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163610/original/image-20170403-16550-3uf443.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163610/original/image-20170403-16550-3uf443.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163610/original/image-20170403-16550-3uf443.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163610/original/image-20170403-16550-3uf443.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163610/original/image-20170403-16550-3uf443.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Author’s own calculations from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Surveys of Income and Housing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As these charts show, the intergenerational housing wealth gap has widened in the last two decades. In 2011, the median housing equity of home owners aged 45-64 years was nearly double the value held by the 25-44 year olds. The share of the population’s housing equity held by those aged 45-64 years has widened between 1990 and 2011 at the expense of those aged 25-44 years. </p>
<p>This means the system could potentially unravel in the long term. If large numbers of young people continue to face price barriers to home ownership, the home ownership pillar within the welfare system will be weakened as the future population of home owners shrinks.</p>
<p>In the short-term a significant group of millennials will miss out on the benefits of home ownership. But in the long term, unless governments address some fundamental structural problems currently entrenched within our tax-transfer system, there is a significant weakness in our social welfare system built on housing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Ong is Deputy Director of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, an independent economic and social research organisation located within Curtin Business School at Curtin University. The centre was established in 2012 with support from Bankwest (a division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia) and Curtin University. Some of the findings reported in this article are drawn from grant 30653 funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). The views in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the views of AHURI, Curtin University and/or Bankwest or any of their affiliates.</span></em></p>Housing has become integral to our welfare system, so even governments can’t afford for prices to decline.Rachel Ong ViforJ, Deputy Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.