Social Security Law is an up-to-date, critical, yet authoritative account of the British social security system and its legal framework. It sets out the principal features of the main social benefits, giving a detailed exposition of the legal basis of entitlement to each benefit. It then takes the reader several steps further in placing the understanding of social security law into its wider social, political, historical and European context.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book describes the social security regime in the United Kingdom. It conveys a clear working knowledge of the legal mechanics affecting health care, employment injuries and occupational diseases, incapacity to work, pensions, survivors’ benefits, unemployment benefits and services, and family benefits. The analysis covers the field of application, conditions for entitlement, calculation of benefits, financing, the institutional framework, and relevant law enforcement and controls. Allowances for retirees, employees, public sector workers, the self-employed, and the handicapped are all clearly explained, along with full details of claims, adjudication procedures, and appeals. Succinct yet eminently practical, the book will be a valuable resource for lawyers handling social security matters in the United Kingdom. It will be of practical utility to those both in public service and private practice called on to develop and to apply social security law and policy, and of special interest as a contribution to the comparative study of social security systems.

Social security rulings on federal old-age, survivors, disability, and supplemental security income; and black lung benefits.

The United Kingdom's labor market policies place it in a kind of institutional middle ground between the United States and continental Europe. Low pay grew sharply between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, in large part due to the decline of unions and collective bargaining and the removal of protections for the low paid. The changes instituted by Tony Blair's New Labour government since 1997, including the introduction of the National Minimum Wage, halted the growth in low pay but have not reversed it. Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom explains why the current level of low-paying work remains one of the highest in Europe. The authors argue that the failure to deal with low pay reflects a policy approach which stressed reducing poverty, but also centers on the importance of moving people off benefits and into work, even at low wages. The U.K. government has introduced a version of the U.S. welfare to work policies and continues to stress the importance of a highly flexible and competitive labor market. A central policy theme has been that education and training can empower people to both enter work and to move into better paying jobs. The case study research reveals the endemic nature of low paid work and the difficulties workers face in escaping from the bottom end of the jobs ladder. However, compared to the United States, low paid workers in the United Kingdom do benefit from in-work social security benefits, targeted predominately at those with children, and entitlements to non-pay benefits such as annual leave, maternity and sick pay, and crucially, access to state-funded health care. Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom skillfully illustrates the way that the interactions between government policies, labor market institutions, and the economy have ensured that low pay remains a persistent problem within the United Kingdom. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Case Studies of Job Quality in Advanced Economies

This third and last open access volume in the series takes the perspective of non-EU countries on immigrant social protection. By focusing on 12 of the largest sending countries to the EU, the book tackles the issue of the multiple areas of sending state intervention towards migrant populations. Two “mirroring” chapters are dedicated to each of the 12 non-EU states analysed (Argentina, China, Ecuador, India, Lebanon, Morocco, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey). One chapter focuses on access to social benefits across five core policy areas (health care, unemployment, old-age pensions, family benefits, guaranteed minimum resources) by discussing the social protection policies that non-EU countries offer to national residents, non-national residents, and non-resident nationals. The second chapter examines the role of key actors (consulates, diaspora institutions and home country ministries and agencies) through which non-EU sending countries respond to the needs of nationals abroad. The volume additionally includes two chapters focusing on the peculiar case of the United Kingdom after the Brexit referendum. Overall, this volume contributes to ongoing debates on migration and the welfare state in Europe by showing how non-EU sending states continue to play a role in third country nationals’ ability to deal with social risks. As such this book is a valuable read to researchers, policy makers, government employees and NGO’s.

In developed countries, men’s labor force participation at older ages has increased in recent years, reversing a decades-long pattern of decline. Participation rates for older women have also been rising. What explains these patterns, and the differences in them across countries? The answers to these questions are pivotal as countries face fiscal and retirement security challenges posed by longer life-spans. This eighth phase of the International Social Security project, which compares the social security and retirement experiences of twelve developed countries, documents trends in participation and employment and explores reasons for the rising participation rates of older workers. The chapters use a common template for analysis, which facilitates comparison of results across countries. Using within-country natural experiments and cross-country comparisons, the researchers study the impact of improving health and education, changes in the occupation mix, the retirement incentives of social security programs, and the emergence of women in the workplace, on labor markets. The findings suggest that social security reforms and other factors such as the movement of women into the labor force have played an important role in labor force participation trends.