Factors Influencing Political Decisions About Social Security Benefits in the UK

This chapter asks about the factors that determine political decisions about tax and benefits systems in the UK in order to evaluate the political feasibility of reform options for the income maintenance system, and in particular a shift in the direction of the Living Wage and a shift in the direction of universal benefits. By studying a number of proposals for reforming the income maintenance system—both those that have succeeded, and those that have failed—we can list the factors involved in the political process. A categorisation of factors is attempted so that we can then ask whether a study of the factors that relate to so far unsuccessful reform proposals might enable us to predict the circumstances in which those proposals might succeed. The current somewhat challenging policy context will then be studied to see whether it might match the circumstances required for the success of any of the reform proposals studied. Among the historic and proposed reforms studied are the UK’s National Minimum Wage, Living Wage, Child Benefit, and Basic Income (an unconditional, nonwithdrawable income for every individual, paid at the same rate for every one of the same age).