Social Policy for the Hnc in Social Care
Social Policy
To gain a better understanding of Social Policy we need to look at its definition:
Social Policy is the study of social services and the welfare state. In general terms, it looks at the idea of social welfare, and its relationship to politics and society.
The principal areas relate to
Policy and administrative practice in social services, including health administration, social security, education, employment services, community care and housing management;
Social problems, including crime, disability, unemployment, mental health, learning disability, and old age;
Issues relating to social disadvantage, including race, gender and poverty; and
the range of collective social responses to these conditions (http://www2.rgu.ac.uk).
One of the earliest examples of social policy was the Elizabethan Act in 1500 which made provisions for the punishment of ‘sturdy beggars’ and ‘the relief of the impotence poor’. An early piece of legislation to discourage giving to the undeserved and begging but to rather give relief or help to those in genuinely in need. Elizabeth 1st enacted procedures for collecting charitable alms from the wealthier people of the parish to help the poor; a task was usually carried out by churchwardens. This later gave way to the Poor Law Act in 1601 which developed work houses where those in needs could be ‘set to work’ to earn their keep (HNC in Social Care, 2009, Page 49).
Social Policy can only be formed if private problems are made public. For example in the Elizabethan times a private issue could be an individual who encountered absolute poverty which resulted in her/him begging for survival, a problem that was clearly difficult for the person to resolve by her/his self. Private problems grow to become public issues when people experiencing the issues are highlighted in the wider sense thus in the development of ‘work houses’ as stated above, where these individuals could be put to work.
To gain a better understanding of Social Policy we need to look at its definition:
Social Policy is the study of social services and the welfare state. In general terms, it looks at the idea of social welfare, and its relationship to politics and society.
The principal areas relate to
Policy and administrative practice in social services, including health administration, social security, education, employment services, community care and housing management;
Social problems, including crime, disability, unemployment, mental health, learning disability, and old age;
Issues relating to social disadvantage, including race, gender and poverty; and
the range of collective social responses to these conditions (http://www2.rgu.ac.uk).
One of the earliest examples of social policy was the Elizabethan Act in 1500 which made provisions for the punishment of ‘sturdy beggars’ and ‘the relief of the impotence poor’. An early piece of legislation to discourage giving to the undeserved and begging but to rather give relief or help to those in genuinely in need. Elizabeth 1st enacted procedures for collecting charitable alms from the wealthier people of the parish to help the poor; a task was usually carried out by churchwardens. This later gave way to the Poor Law Act in 1601 which developed work houses where those in needs could be ‘set to work’ to earn their keep (HNC in Social Care, 2009, Page 49).
Social Policy can only be formed if private problems are made public. For example in the Elizabethan times a private issue could be an individual who encountered absolute poverty which resulted in her/him begging for survival, a problem that was clearly difficult for the person to resolve by her/his self. Private problems grow to become public issues when people experiencing the issues are highlighted in the wider sense thus in the development of ‘work houses’ as stated above, where these individuals could be put to work.