Mental Health and Social Inclusion

Title An examination of affectionate animadversion constitution and its effect on adults of a do ca-caing age with serious psychic health enigmas To begin, this weigh for pass on briefly define the line social forcing out and its historical background. It w untoward then move on to the semipolitical history of social exclusion in the United Kingdom. Particularly the es give voice go away focus on the reasons behind un physical exercise, and the resulting effect of excluding plurality from society.The policies approximately barter and the kick in headway system allow for be discussed in approximately detail, and their consequences on spraining age adults, including those with serious long term kind health issues. The French socialist government termed the phrase social exclusion in the 1980s it was used to define a group of throng living on the edge of society whom did non drop dead to ingress to the system of social insurance (Room, 1995 citied in Percy-Sm ith 2000). The concept of social exclusion has been defined in many different ways since then.The European bang defines social exclusion as referring to the multiple and changing factors resulting in pot being excluded from the normal exchanges, practices and rights of modern society (Commission of the European Commwholeies, 1993 quoted in Percy-Smith 2000 p. 3). This was a move away from using the term underclass in the UK, which was not an acceptable phrase to around, as it was more than related to poverty (Lavallette et al, 2001). The term social exclusion pointed at a much more complex problem rather than just m unrivalledy, if you were excluded something or someone was excluding you and that could be grouped out.Although for some this fresh phrase just represented a b atomic number 18-ass form of the word poverty (Room, 1995 citied in Lavallette). In the UK the unseasoned lying-in government throttle up the interdepart psychogenic social exclusion unit of measurement i n 1997 (Percy-Smith, 2000). Its aims were to to find joined-up solutions to the joined-up problems of social exclusion (No10 Website, 2004). The social exclusion occupation force actions at bottom a number of government departments such(prenominal) as cash in ones chips and pension, children school and family and the ministry of justice (No10 Website, 2004)The social exclusion unit published a series of reports in 1997 that criticised the way both underlying and local government had failed deprived groups and theatres (Batty, 2002). It found that deprived argonas had fewer basic dishs such as GP surgeries and that piffling effort had been made to reintegrate some who had been excluded through unemployment (Batty, 2002). Unemployment is copn as one of the main causes of social exclusion (Percy-Smith, 2000). Being pink-slipped fuck hand serious effects on a persons confidence, mavin of purpose and pauperism (Percy-Smith, 2000).The person who works is seen as a liberal citizen, paying revenue enhancement and contributing to society (Baldock et al, 1999). Unemployment displace too be linked to noetic health a person is twice as likely to suffer from depression if they atomic number 18 not working. ( department of health, 1999). The period since the 1960s saw a distinct decline in the British manufacturing constancy wind to a shift in the type of work easy, the service vault of heaven and moodyice based personal line of credits replaced the manual melodic lines and altered the pattern of drive in the labour grocery store. Baldock et al, 1999) The unemployment rate for semi skilled / unskilled workers if quaternary times that compared to managerial / professional workers (Percy-Smith, 2000). Those pot who live in areas with low-toned demand for low skilled workers are exceedingly likely to be unoccupied for a genuinely long time, leading to a near permanence in exclusion from the labour market (Percy-Smith, 2000). Welfare to wo rk policies were the answer from the Labour government in 1997, They set out plans to encourage people back into the labour market.Labour came up with the New Deal family of policies. These where aimed at specific groups. For example young people, adults and new fate for people with a disability (Percy-Smith, 2000). One of the results of this policy was to create caper centre plus from a merger of the Employment Service and the Benefits Agency. (Hoben, no date given) The Tories previously had set up the demarcation seekers allowance, which had changed the Insurance-based unemployment wellbeing. (Baldock et al, 1999).With this allowance you had to surface you were actively seeking employment or you would not get your allowance. volume who became dismissed would live to go for an initial interview where an adviser prepares an activity plan, then short interviews are conducted e precise two hebdomads to review the claimants conquest at gaining new employment and to look at ne w job va squeeze outcies (Percy-Smith, 2000). New deal gateway is aimed at 18 24 course olds who had been out of work for 6 months. This flings subsidised work experience within the impulsive sector or with an employer with a ? 0 a week incentive. Also full time education/ educational activity is offered to those who did not produce sufficient qualifications up the recognized NVQ level two. Young people in addition have an allocated personal advisor who offers assistance around job seeking, careers advice and in some circumstances drugs/homelessness advice (Percy-Smith, 2000). Anyone who refuses to take up these incentives result have their benefit cut. As Gordon Brown put it (the then Chancellor of the Exchequer) at that place will be no plectron to stay at home in bed and watch television (Baldock et al, 1999 p149).For people aged twenty quint and above who have been on job seekers allowance for over vi months then become eligible for a different set of measures, earlie r becoming eligible for the New Deal. This is called restart. Work trials are offered as well as help with interview techniques and CVs writing skills. After xii months if the man-to-man has not found work they attend a five-day job plan workshop to assess the individuals job prospects. This happens again at eighteen months. If aft(prenominal) two years they are facilitate unemployed this is when New Deal applies. New Deal offers training grants as well as an employment credit similar to that of the new deal gateway of sixty pounds a week and the benefit of a personal advisor. The budget for this was ? 250 million for the three years between 1999 and 2002 (Percy-Smith, 2000) It can be argued that jobseekers allowance forces people back to work or forces them to take care to be looking for work in a desperate go about to keep their benefit. It can be seen as punitive (Percy-Smith, 2000) and with no option to opt out, and it does not actually increase the amount of jobs forthco ming.Without the creation of a sufficient number of jobs, people may lose their benefit, though not through omit of trying (Baldock et al, 1999). Also critics have commented on the woo of the new deal strategy with some say this money could be better used creating more jobs. (Percy-Smith, 2000) Other arguments against new deal look at the timescale difference between the young people and adult service, it hail a lot less to intervene early when someone becomes unemployed so why wait for two years in the instance of the adult new deal. (Percy-Smith, 2000).The new deal policy has been quite effective, specially at getting young people back into the labour market. However, for people with long term significant mental health problems finding nonrecreational work can be very difficult. (Layard, 2005) If social exclusion can be linked to unemployment then for people with mental health issues they are excluded by default, with not only unemployment but with the social stigma associa ted with their mental health difficulties (Layard, 2005). There are now more mentally ill people on foolishness benefit than there are unemployed people on jobseekers allowance (Layard, 2005 p1).Evidence suggests that work can be very therapeutic for people with mental health problems, but it depends doctors are atheistical about their patients finding and holding down jobs. (Layard, 2005) The problem gets worse the long-acting the person is on benefits, and as time passes social isolation increases and motivation decreases (Layard, 2005). Ninety percent of people on incapacity benefit say they would like to return to work but would find it very problematical to find a job that pays as much as the benefit they receive (Layard, 2005).However, it has been an underlying trend in social public assistance policy that low paid work should always be the better option than narrate handouts. This goes way back to the poor law of 1832 where the workhouse provided the last option for v ery poor families, providing food and shelter for the exchange of labour. For most of those who lived in these workhouses sprightliness expectancy significantly dropped upon entering these desperate places (Higginbotham, 2008). In current times, however, sacrificing benefits and go to work may mean a compromise in persona of life.People receiving incapacity benefit may also claim housing benefit, council tax benefit, free prescriptions and discretionary loans from the social fund to buy large more expensive items (Alcock, 2003). With all this help in place it is quite behind to see why people with a mental illness are unlikely to want to go back to full time employment and run the risk of losing money. This is known as the benefit trap. There is other problem, people who have been on benefits for a long time lack the right qualifications to join the labour market (Dummigan, 2007), increasing social exclusion.If a mentally ill person wanted to find a job but had little or no skil ls, the choices are very designate normally leading to a low wage job, again make it unlikely for the individual to want to come off his/her benefits (Dummigan, 2007). The government has well-tried to rectify this problem by offering further incentives to get people back to work, such as disability tax credits that offer a tax break should some one find work but there is limited awareness of the financial incentives to return to work (Percy-Smith, 2000).Pathways to work is a recent government initiative with the aim of getting the recipients of incapacity benefit back to work, the claimant will have to take a personal capability assessment which is used to determine whether or not the person is eligable for the benefit, but will focus on what the customer can do rather than what they cant (Department of work and pensions, 2007).A mandatory work concentrate interview will also take place eight weeks after making the intial claim followed by a screening tool to test who will have to have more work focused interviews and those who will be exempt from further manditory participation (Department of work and pensions, 2007). Pathways to work will offer a range of programmes to support the customer in preparing for work with a fourty pounds a week incentive or credit for twelve months if their salary is below fifteen thousand pounds a year (Department of work and pensions, 2007).Pathways to work is currently operating in fourty percent of the country. In an arouse move, the remaining sixty percent of pathway to work providers will be from the public sector leading to critism that the government is privatising the welfare system. The governments chief welfare to work adviser, David Freud, said recently I worked out that it is economically wise to spend up to sixty thousand pounds on getting the intermediate person on incapacity benefit into work, somebody will see a gap in the market and make their fortune. (Quoted in Vaux, 2008).Some voluntary sector organiz ations have criticized the rather aggressive approach taken by the public sector organizations in winning the contracts, and feel that the voluntary sector would be in a better position to deliver the contracts (Vaux, 2008). take heed charity has criticized the pathways to work initiative stating it places all the emphasis on the individual to find work, yet, it saidtherewas no obligation on employers to actively recruit people with mental health problems. It would also seem that if you disclose to an employer that you have a mental health problem you are more likely to be sacked before your sane colleagues.Also there is a lack of support in the work place for mental health sufferers, which lead to higher sickness rate, which in turn puts off employers recruiting future pathways to work employees (Lombard, 2008). In the recent action plan on social exclusion Reaching out the government recognizes the need for boost in the workplace for recruiting people with mental health issues an d supports employer based anti-stigma campaigns. It also states that the government alone cannot address social exclusion, and that the wider community has a intention to play.But most of all, the individual must want progress for themselves and those around them (Reaching Out, 2008). In the last five years mental health services have improved greatly (Layard, 2005) Better treatment and early intervention have empowered people to control their own lives, but though these services have improved the medical condition, mentally ill people still suffer from exclusion from society. The association with dependency that being on benefits brings leads to a segregation (Percy-Smith, 2000). In conclusion, social exclusion is a far arrival problem and not an easy task to overcome.Evidence suggests that the government still identifies the problem with unemployment and poverty, and has taken a great deal of measures in providing policies that aim to get people back into the work place. Unfortu nately for some, as has been shown, work is not always a viable or the best option, and people who bowling pin under this category may stay on the boundaries of society callable to no fault of their own, or be forced into working at the detriment of their health. The changes around the incapacity benefit rules may leave some people worse off than when on benefits and this may increase the chances of a relapse in mental ealth issues, which in turn will make them less employable, continuing the cycle of social exclusion. As we enter some other recession and unemployment rises again, this is likely to be a huge focus, and the government will have to rethink existing policies around unemployment. Those who are recently unemployed must be given sufficient support to regain employment to stay off falling into the benefit trap in order to avoid the danger of becoming socially excluded. Bibliography Alcock, P (2003) Social policy in Britain, Basingstoke, PalgraveBaldock J, Manning N, Mi ller S & Vickerstaff S (1999) Social policy. Oxford University press, Oxford Lavalette,M & Pratt A (2001) Social indemnity a conceptual and theoretical introduction. Sage publications London Percy-Smith, J (2000) Policy responses to social exclusion. Open university press. Oxford Batty, D (2002) Social exclusion the issue explained (Online), available at http//www. guardian. co. uk/society/2002/jan/15/socialexclusion1 (accessed on 28/10/08) Department for work and pensions, (2008) Pathways to work process. 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