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Older people, pensions and poverty: an issue for social workers?
- Author:
- FOSTER Liam
- Journal article citation:
- International Social Work, 54(3), May 2011, pp.344-360.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Individual quality of life in retirement is affected by material circumstances. Therefore, pension provision will have a significant impact for older people, and may affect peoples’ need for assistance through social services. Therefore, government pension policy requires considerable attention. This article examines the relationship between social work, poverty and social policy. It shows how the social, economic and political context within which older service users live is crucial to their experience of successful ageing. The article then considers the link between poverty in older age and pension receipt and the role of social policy formulation in the UK with particular reference to New Labour governance. Pension policy in the UK is then examined within a European context. In ending, the article considers whether pension poverty levels are likely to change under the new government.
Towards a new political economy of pensions? The implications for women
- Author:
- FOSTER Liam
- Journal article citation:
- Critical Social Policy, 30(1), February 2010, pp.27-47.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The government and pensions industry face the difficult challenge of satisfying 2 potentially contrasting demands: to ensure that government pension spending remains stable and also respond to the needs of the poorest pensioners, many of whom are women. This article employs a political economy approach to assess the changing nature of women’s pension provision. Initially it provides an overview of the current context showing that many female pensioners are without access to significant pension entitlements in their own right. Then it examines the history of women’s pensions over the last 30 years with reference to both state and private forms of provision. It considers the pension strategies of Thatcher and New Labour governments and their impact on women’s pension situation. This includes an evaluation of recent New Labour proposals, such as Personal Accounts, a raise in the basic State Pension age and reintroduction of the link to earnings. Finally, the paper concludes that these proposals do not represent the emergence of a new political economy of pensions which better reflects the needs of female pensioners; rather they are a response to the challenges of an ageing population.
Older people and social quality – what difference does income make?
- Authors:
- FOSTER Liam, TOMLINSON Mark, WALKER Alan
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 39(11), 2019, pp.2351-2376.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This article explores the relationship between Social Quality and income in later life and represents the first application of the concept to a United Kingdom data-set with an explicit focus on older people. In order to undertake this analysis, confirmatory factor analysis models are employed in conjunction with the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). This enables various dimensions or domains of Social Quality to be measured and then subjected to further scrutiny via regression analysis. Initially, the paper explores links between low income, poverty and older people, prior to outlining the concept of Social Quality and its four conditional factors. Following the methodology, the impact of income on Social Quality domains is explored. The research identifies that differences in income in older age provide a partial explanation of differences in individual Social Quality. While there is a statistically significant relationship between income and certain aspects of Social Quality such as economic security, altruism, social networks and culture/participation, other factors such as health, identity and time did not have a statistically significant relationship with income. This indicates that improvements in the income of older people are likely to positively impact on aspects of their Social Quality. Finally, some policy implications of the finding are outlined with particular reference to the potential role for pensions in enhancing aspects of Social Quality in retirement. (Edited publisher abstract)