Three ways to defend social security in Britain

Abstract

British social security is now in a time of crisis, where cuts are being made to a system that was already struggling to provide decent security. In this paper I argue that successful proposals to combat this must (i) lead to reductions in poverty/inequality; (ii) fit existing perceptions of claimant ‘deservingness’; and (iii) change deservingness perceptions in the long run. I conclude that three influential recent proposals – ‘Decent Childhoods’, ‘National Salary Insurance’, and ‘The Solidarity Society’ – are only partially successful in meeting these criteria, and that successful reform requires a fusion of the respective insights of each proposal.