The event was kindly supported by the Social Policy Association.
The All-Island Social Security Network (AISSN) hosted its first event on 6 December 2023 at Ulster University. The full-day event brought together researchers and policy advisors from across the island who have a shared interest in the administration of social security. The recently formed AISSN Steering Group – who are seeking to drive the development of the network – invited speakers from academia, civil society, and Government officials on both sides of the border to contribute to a fulsome agenda, split across two sessions in the morning and afternoon.
The Morning Session…
Speakers:
Professor Madeleine Leonard (QUB)
Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick (UU) and Dr Charles O’Sullivan (NUI Maynooth)
Helen Barnard (Director of Policy and Impact, Trussell Trust)
Helen Johnston (Senior Policy Analyst, National Economic and Social Council, Ireland)
Professor Madeleine Leonard facilitated the morning session…
To begin proceedings, Prof. Leonard took the opportunity to reflect on current cross-border initiatives, such as the annual Social Welfare Summer School which is run collaboratively between the Department for Communities (Northern Ireland) and the Department of Social Protection (Republic of Ireland). The summer school brings together civil servants to share learning, knowledge and practice and has been running for the last 23 years. Prof. Leonard acknowledged that although this is a step in the right direction, current collaborative efforts do not go far enough. Prof. Leonard stressed the important contribution that the AISSN can make in bringing together academics, government officials, civil society and social security claimants.
Professor Leonard first welcomed two of the event hosts, Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick and Dr Charles O’Sullivan to introduce the progress the network had made since its first official meeting in May 2023 at Trinity College, Dublin…
Dr Fitzpatrick and Dr O’Sullivan reported that a small Working Group has been established (Fiona Dukelow, UCC; Tricia Keilthy, SVP and Jonny Currie, Trussell Trust) to drive forward the work which would include at least two events per year (one in the North and one in the South). They also outlined the Network’s ambition to engage further with civil society and to contribute to policy development, such as responding with a developed evidence base to the current proposals to introduce a new Work Capability process that appears to be modelled upon or draw inspiration from the UK system in the Republic of Ireland.
Professor Leonard introduced the invited speakers for session one, first Helen Barnard, Director of Policy and Impact at Trussell Trust (the largest network of foodbanks in the UK) to provide an overview of the current state of the UK social security system…
First, Helen Barnard outlined the three basic functions of a social security system:
- Income replacement – Recognising that not everyone has access to sufficient independent funds to buy from the market or will inherit support. It also takes account of life events that act as income shocks – giving rise to income replacement benefits. The system has also recognised that a significant number of individuals are unable to generate enough income from earning and so it has also introduced a complex system of in-work benefits.
- Additional Costs – The consumer market doesn’t recognise the additional costs and barriers to participation in paid employment can be significant – for example, disability and caring for children. Such costs are considered unreasonable for the employer to meet.
- Saving for the Future – The population is poor at planning and saving for what we need in the future in a general sense. The market isn’t going to cover this, for example, private insurance is prohibitively expensive for most. So social security provides a safety net to cover life events such as retirement (state pension) and having a baby (maternity/paternity/parental allowance/leave).
Helen Barnard outlined how Trussell Trust evidence shows how social security is currently failing to provide people with even a minimum degree of protection. Its ‘end of year stats’ show that the foodbank provided 3 billion food parcels last year, a jump of 37% on the previous years. She emphasised that this is not a short-term effect, but part of a long-term trend – the need for emergency food aid has nearly doubled within the last 10 years.
Barnard further cautioned that these figures represent “the tip of the iceberg” as the majority of people facing hunger don’t access food charities. There are currently 11.3m people in food insecurity, which equates to 14% of UK adults. This is bigger than the population of Scotland.
Looking beyond the statistics, we must think about the people and their individual stories – the daily experience of hardship leads to shame, stigma, giving up, mental and an emotional state of feeling trapped. It also leads to having to say no to children who want to be warm, put the lights on, be fed – all of these are things that we collectively consider to be basic rights.
The biggest driver of hunger and debt in the UK is the social security system. Recent research published by Joseph Rowntree Foundation illustrates that 3.8 m people were destitute in UK in 2022 including, 1m children. Since 2017, destitution has increased by a factor of 2.5. Three quarters of those who were experiencing destitution were people in receipt of social security. 90% of those who were on Universal Credit (the main income replacement benefit in the UK) were going without everyday essentials. The working-age, means-tested part of the system is failing citizens the most. The limited contributory, insurance-based element of the social security system is working much better. Additionally, 3% of pensioners are facing food insecurity – however, it’s important to note that pensioner poverty appears to be climbing, particularly for those who are renting their homes.
Helen Barnard underscored the significant and disproportionate impact on disabled claimants: 7 in 10 of those people who have visited a Trussell Trust foodbank are disabled. Ethnic minorities are also more vulnerable to food insecurity, as are families with children.
Helen Barnard outlined four key problems with the current UK social security system:
- Accessibility. It is not easy to access benefits, particularly disability benefits. Form filling takes large amount of time and frontline advice organisations have limited capacity to support with this.
- Delays in getting benefit. There is a five-week delay built into the current social security system and this can be trigger for debt and hunger.
- Level of benefits do not cover the cost of essentials. 10 years ago, if you got people good financial advice it would help but now they are more likely to be operating with a ‘negative budget’ so this can’t help.
- Payments reduced by caps and debt deductions. Most of which is money being paid back to government.
How do we solve this? Social security is not meeting the principles that it should.
There are two main building blocks to help move us towards a solution:
- Get public support for the social security system that won’t be undone by government. We need to convince the government to look upon the social security system the same way they look at the National Health Service – as an essential public good. On a positive note, a majority of the public are worried about poverty and think the government should be doing more and it’s important that campaigners build upon this position.
- Cross-party backing. Securing backing from all parties will require a “big tent approach” to avoid a yo-yo effect from political changes of/in government. The starting point is to protect everyone from destitution and severe poverty. Although this solution doesn’t seem ambitious enough, it would be transformative for society on a practical level, and could have a more immediate impact.
Professor Leonard then welcomed Helen Johnston from the National Economic and Social Council who provided an insight into the health of the Irish social security system…
Helen Johnston outlined that the Irish system was based on the Beveridgean system, so both systems started from the same place – prioritising social insurance benefits based on National Insurance (in Ireland, named Pay Related Social Insurance) contributions, with provision for social assistance and universal benefits (the Child Benefit).
As the system developed, economic inequality became more apparent with a high number of households not in work/generating an independent income. What was also apparent, was the high number of households experiencing high market income inequality with a large discrepancy between very high and very low salaries across the population. The role of social insurance has been weak, and the Republic of Ireland is working hard to improve that, and it is arguably going in the opposite direction to the UK system.
In the Republic of Ireland there is a mix of cash transfers and services. Education and health provision has been weak, so it is easier to add cash to benefits rather than improve services (putting the burden on navigating services on the individual).
A 2005 report from NESC ‘Developmental Welfare State’ sets out a vision on how the system can be developed by looking at economic and social policy together, the benefits of improving services and considering social innovations across children, elder care, social care, infrastructure of transport and house as well as employment.
Effectiveness of the system
Helen Johnston pointed to levels of poverty as the indicator of effectiveness. Below 6% of median income is considered to be ‘at risk of poverty’. Following a period of rapid change – the rise of ‘Celtic tiger’ and the subsequent economic crash, some economic improvement post-austerity, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Cost-of-Living Crisis – has resulted in the ‘at risk of poverty’ rate being at 13.1%.
The official poverty line – or ‘consistent poverty level’ – indicates falling below the income line of 6%, and being deprived of necessities and social activities. This figure has hovered at approximately 5% of the Irish population who are consequently considered to be in consistent poverty.
Deprivation levels are more volatile, as it includes access to basic necessities. Deprivation fell during the ‘Celtic Tiger’ then rose during the economic crash, before falling again when there was a degree of economic recovery, but then rose during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The statistics indicate that the Republic of Ireland has been relatively successful in combatting poverty overall, but must work hard to take a more proactive roll because of the persistent levels of income inequality within Irish society.
Groups at risk of poverty include those with poor health, unemployed people, single adult under 65, Lone Parents, Workless households, renters (private rented sector and social sector), those with lower levels of education, older women living alone, and families with children. Also at risk are those who live in disadvantaged areas – Census data shows where affluence and disadvantage are concentrated geographically. The latter tends to be concentrated in rural areas, around large cities (which have pockets of disadvantage).
The Republic of Ireland has been implementing the National Anti-Poverty Strategy since 1997. It includes a road map for social inclusion. It is a target to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less. It is currently 5.3% now, the lowest it ever was 4.2%. The strategy includes a ‘social inclusion forum’ – which is a beneficial way to involve people in poverty and those who work with them to look at how annual progress is shaping up. Some of the key issues includes ‘heat or eat’; income inadequacy (especially those on fixed income), homelessness and foodbanks are increasingly normalised, as well as a lack of access to affordable healthcare, mental health problems, high unemployment for those with disabilities, structural issues affecting Members of the Travelling Community and Roma, a lack of childcare supports and places in creches/montessori schools at affordable rates, and a lack of transport (particularly in rural areas).
Further Anti-poverty programmes have been published, including a 2019-24 strategy on sustainable, inclusive, and empowered communities. Initiatives to support this inclusive social inclusion and community activation programme, which is designed to help to build people towards being employment ready.
Helen Johnston outlined issues that must be addressed…
- Low pay. Ensure adequate income to alleviate poverty – including child income support.
- Keeping people in employment. We need to support high participation in employment – there is a pilot participation income scheme, for those providing care and not adequately recognised.
- Modernise family supports. Support needs to reflect gender and care needs.
- Enhancing financial sustainability. There are less workers to support an aging population, so we need immigrant workers.
Helen Johnston also highlighted existing initiatives that have an all-island dimension and potential for future collaboration….
Future collaboration opportunities:
- Share knowledge on effective Initiatives to address child poverty and intergenerational transmission of poverty.
- Look at role of state and working together with the Community and Voluntary Sector.
- The need to incorporate socio-economic rights into policy making.
- Knowledge exchange on just transition.
- Alignment of poverty measurement.
- Exploring links b/w poverty and MHOs
- Initiatives to tackle concentrations of poverty.
- Cross-border social security conference.
The Afternoon Session…
Speakers:
Professor Mary Murphy (National University of Ireland, Maynooth)
Tommy O’Reilly (Previously Deputy Permanent Secretary for the Department for Communities, Northern Ireland)
Colm O’Reardon (Previously Secretary for the Commission on Tax and Welfare in the Republic of Ireland)
The afternoon session was kicked off by Professor Mary Murphy, Professor in Sociology at Maynooth University, who spoke about the importance of the intersection between climate change and inequality. She gave the harrowing statistic that the richest 1% have the same carbon emissions of the poorest 66%.
Prof Murphy stressed the importance of research at this critical time, saying it is “a time for revolution, not patching” in that patching up policy or making small changes was not going to be enough.
More specifically about social security, Prof. Murphy argued that the welfare system as it stands remains very market-based and capitalistic. She underlined that we should be thinking ‘bigger, better and bolder’ with how services are delivered and that they should be delivered on a more universal basis.
Not surprisingly, care came up and that it remains undervalued. She suggested that inome supports can be used to value things other than working for income. The Artists Payment is an example of this it supports the arts and promotes culture. A similar scheme could be used for those who are caring. She underlined that income supports may be based on conditionality but on a conditionality other than just working for income. Prof Murphy believed the value placed on care – both North and South of this island – needs to be reconsidered.
The final session of the afternoon with civil servants (Tommy O’Reilly, previously Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland and Colm O’Reardon who was previously Secretary to the Commission on Taxation and Welfare in the Republic of Ireland) was operated under Chatham House Rules.
All-Island Social Security Network 