CHAPTER 11
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL SECURITY AND SOCIAL WELFARE SERVICES
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11.1
The Government has reviewed the relationship between social security and social welfare services, in the light of the proposed programme of social security development. The aim of the review was to consider how those services should be financed and the impact of the social security programme on the need for social welfare services.
Social security and social welfare
11.2
An extension of social security does not mean that there should necessarily be a corresponding reduction in social welfare services. The aim of social security (in the form of cash payments) is to give financial help to those unable to be fully self supporting, whereas the aim of social welfare is to provide services for those who cannot manage without them. Thus, there is no overlap between social security and social welfare: rather, the two are complementary.
11.3
Subject to what is said in para. 11.4 below, this general proposition is valid in all areas of social welfare. The need for family casework, services for the elderly, the disabled and youth, for community development and for the probation service will exist irrespective of the provision of cash payments. This can be seen in the following examples. Three different kinds of service are represented by family casework, homes for the elderly and community centres. Family casework provides assistance in resolving family problems; additional cash allowances to those families would not be an acceptable alternative in most cases because what is needed is advice and assistance, not money. Nor would the provision of additional cash allowances to the elderly, who would otherwise be resident in a care and attention home, be an adequate substitute unless it were possible to purchase equivalent nursing and other services in their own homes. And few of those who need care and attention would be able to buy adequate services of this sort for themselves. Community centres provide a service which, generally speaking, cannot be purchased commercially, so that provision of a cash allowance would not be an adequate substitute.
11.4
However, there are two respects in which the development of social security may have a direct effect on social welfare services. Firstly, it may affect the demand for services: either by reducing this (for example, the demand for institutional accommodation would be reduced if better social security persuaded or enabled some people to continue to live at home); or by enabling some people to "buy" the service privately rather than rely on services financed by the Government, directly or through subvention. Secondly, the development of social security may make it possible to review existing policy and practice on charging fees.
Demand for social welfare services
11.5
The demand for social welfare services may be affected by
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