“There are many causes of income and wealth inequality. Discuss” (20)
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Employment status
 Those who are unemployed make less money
 There are less high paid jobs
 Trapped in a cycle
 Unable to get better skills to get a better job
 60% of workless adults are in poverty
 However – unemployment rates are dropping
 8.5% in 2011, 4% in 2018
 Meaning there will be less inequality
 Although more people on zero-hour contracts
Education
 With higher qualifications you can get a better job
 Limited employment opportunities for les qualified people
 Employers want people with better skills
 Means people with better education have more money
 In 2016 86% of people with degrees were employed, only 44% with no qualifications
 Cyclical as if you grow up in poverty you may not be able to afford university
 However – other barriers
 Children not being fed may mean they cant concentrate
 43% of young people in most deprived areas passed one higher – 80.8% in least
deprived
 Gap still narrowing
Social class
 Lower classes (C2DE) don’t have as much money
 Poor health, lower living standards
 Poor health may mean employment is hard
 May not have dedicated place to study
 Feeds into education
 30% of UK children in poverty
 However – declining influence of social class
 Education is now free
 Route out of poverty
 Still influences due to social exclusion
“Poverty is the main cause of poor health. Discuss” (20)
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Poverty
 Housing – can cause poor health
 Dampness can lead to respiratory issues
 Can damage mental health
 Isolated – high rise flats
 JFR 2017 – adults in poorest 20% experience worse health
 Food options
 Harder to get nutrition – leads to malnutrition
 However – free school meals + social housing
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 All children in P1-P3 get free school meals
 Social housing is available which is maintained by the council
Lifestyle choices
 Smoking and drinking can lead to poor health
 Over 100,000 smoking related deaths
 Alcohol consumption can cause cancer and fertility issues
 However – not as many people drink as in the past
 2016 – 56.9% of people drink, 64.9% in 2007
Geographical location
 Higher cost of living
 Harder to get cheap food so harder to keep well nourished
 More likely to get ill as a result
 You would need around £4,691.29 in London to maintain the same standard of life
that you can have with £3,100.00 in Aberdeen
 However – things have been put in place to prevent this
 London has a higher living wage than the rest of the UK
 London - £10.55, rest of UK - £9
“To what extent can ill-health be blamed on the lifestyle choices of the population” (20)
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Poverty
 Housing – can cause poor health
 Dampness can lead to respiratory issues
 Can damage mental health
 Isolated – high rise flats
 JFR 2017 – adults in poorest 20% experience worse health
 Food options
 Harder to get nutrition – leads to malnutrition
 However – free school meals + social housing
 All children in P1-P3 get free school meals
 Social housing is available which is maintained by the council
 Poverty is biggest reason
Lifestyle choices
 Smoking and drinking can lead to poor health
 Over 100,000 smoking related deaths
 Alcohol consumption can cause cancer and fertility issues
 However – not as many people drink as in the past
 2016 – 56.9% of people drink, 64.9% in 2007
 Poverty tends to lead to these lifestyle choices
Geographical location
 Higher cost of living
 Harder to get cheap food so harder to keep well nourished
 More likely to get ill as a result
 You would need around £4,691.29 in London to maintain the same standard of life
that you can have with £3,100.00 in Aberdeen
 However – things have been put in place to prevent this
 London has a higher living wage than the rest of the UK
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 London - £10.55, rest of UK - £9
This leads to poverty
“Evaluate the impact of social inequality on a group of society you have studied” (12)
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Poverty due to caring responsibilities
 Mothers are often the parent to be expected to look after children
 Woman don’t work as they must care which means they do not get as much money
from not working / working part time
 Particularly problematic in a lone parent household – there isn’t someone else earning
money
 Even if they work full time would need to pay for child care
 35% of lone parents working part time are in poverty
 However – if they are already working they get maternity leave
 Can take up to 52 weeks off
 26 weeks full pay 26 weeks partial pay
Absence of senior positions
 Often not employed as they may go on maternity leave
 Businesses don’t want to have to fill this break so they may employ men
 Workplaces often make woman feel uncomfortable and have barriers such as lack of
child care facilities
 36% of secondary teachers are female yet 62% of head teachers are male
 However – there has been improvements
 In 2011 12.5% were woman on boards – 26.%81 in 2015
Gender pay gap
 Woman are paid less for doing the same job
 78% of companies pay men more than woman
 Reason is because of the historic discrimination and that woman have less ability to
work full time due to caring responsibilities
 However – Getting slightly better
 Median pay gap 2011 – 10.5, 2019 – 9.6
“Evaluate the view that social inequality affects some groups more than others” (12)
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Woman - Poverty due to caring responsibilities
 Mothers are often the parent to be expected to look after children
 Woman don’t work as they must care which means they do not get as much money
from not working / working part time
 Particularly problematic in a lone parent household – there isn’t someone else earning
money
 Even if they work full time would need to pay for child care
 35% of lone parents working part time are in poverty
 However – if they are already working they get maternity leave
 Can take up to 52 weeks off
 26 weeks full pay 26 weeks partial pay
Elderly (retirement)
 Retired people have stopped working, meaning a pension is their income
 Many elderly people in poverty rely solely on a state pension - £129.20 a week
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If their partner dies, then they are more likely to be in poverty
13.5% on pensioners are in relative poverty
However – state pension increased
 Basic state pension pays £6,718 per annum, new state pension pay8s £8,767
Disabled – Poverty due to discrimination
 Harder to get employment
 Special needs children less likely to be high attainers in school meaning they are
unable to get high paying jobs
 Being in lower paid jobs or being unemployed means, they do not have as much money
 21% of children in families with at least one disabled member are in poverty, a
significantly higher proportion than the 16% of children in families with no
disabled member
 However – disability employment gap narrowing
 34.2% in 2013, 30.1% in 2018
“To what extent have government polices been effective in reducing social and economic
inequalities” (20)
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National minimum wage
 Makes sure work pays
 20% of all under 25s had their wage boosted
 However – the lower your age the less you get paid
 18-20 y/o have to work an extra 135 days to achieve the same living standards as
over 25s
Universal credit
 Objective is to replace all working age benefits
 Payments paid monthly and if unemployed you have to spend 30 hours per week
looking for employment in order to receive the benefit
 2015 govt report found those going on universal credit were more likely to be in
work
 However – many things wrong
 The use of Trussell Trust foodbanks increased by 50% in areas where the
governments flagship welfare reform “Universal Credit” has been rolled out. This
compares to 13% in non-universal credit areas.
 The lump sum payment means people have difficulty making it to the next payment
National living wage
 Replaced over 25s minimum wage
 Govt wanted people to be rewarded for working rather than being on benefits
 Increased 5 million peoples wages
 However – the living wage is not high enough
 Workers on the national living wage earn less than 60% of the UK average wage
“Government is failing to meet the aims of the welfare state” (12)
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Five giants – Ignorance (education)
 In England and Wales students must pay university fees
 £9,000 per year
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Means education isn’t universal and ignorance won't fully be tackled
 However – compulsory education is free
 Compulsory education for every child up to 16 is free
 Led to UK having a very high literacy rate – 99%
Meet everybody’s basic needs
 Cuts to benefits meaning families may not be able to afford basic necessities
 84,000 families benefits being cut
 However – between 1991 and 2017 absolute low-income poverty was in decline
 1991 – 43%, 2017 – 13%
Safety net for people
 Personal Independence payment (PIP) benefit for disabled people
 Not universal – applicants assessed
 Puts applicants under pressure – many misdiagnosed
 Government trying to have less people on the benefit – less money spent
 However – PIP can be beneficial
 Gives people who cant work money to take care of themselves
“Health and welfare provision should be the responsibility of the government. Discuss” (20) /
“Evaluate the view that government should be responsible for talking social inequality”
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The government has expertise/recourses
 94% of MPs went to university
 Tackling social inequality is very complex and shouldn’t be left to individuals
 A large coordinated effort means more people can be helped
 It would be cheaper to buy in bulk everything needed for the population rather than
individuals spending their own money
 However – big government is less suited to meeting needs of local communities
 Different communities would have different needs meaning a large national project
would not help everyone
 May be better to let individuals have their own best suited measures
 With the input of local authorities it has ben working
Recent individualist policies has increased child poverty
 Child poverty went from 16% in 2017 to 18% in 2018
 Due to welfare cuts – parents do not have enough money
 Government is spending less as they believe it should be the individual’s duty
 However – dependency culture
 Individuals argue that people take advantage of the benefit system in order not to
work
 The amount of money lost to benefit fraud is extremely lower than tax evasion
Supported by the public
 A key example of the popularity of collectivist’s approaches is the continued success
of the SNP in Scotland. It has won 3 elections in the Scottish Parliament
 Policies such as free tuition fees
 There would be major uproar if e.g. the NHS was to be replaced
 However - The growing costs of the welfare state are unsustainable
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2018 BBC - that the cost of providing free prescriptions in Scotland has risen 25%
in 10 years to now cost the country £1.3 billion
 Government will have to raise taxes significantly
Taxes were significantly higher in the past