Social Policies - Sociology

GIST and WISE

Encouraged women to do STEM subjects

Education Reform Act 1988

Encouraged competition between schools for more government funding and pupils through the league table.

Gave parents more choice, as parents could choose which school they will send their child to, the more pupils the school has, the more funding the school will have.

Introduced coursework, meaning that girls can do better in school.

Equality Act 2010

Ensures that everyone is paid equally, regardless of their race, age, gender, etc.

Family Planning Act 1967

Made contraception readily available through the NHS

Limit of 2 children for benefits

From April 6th 2017, support provided through Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit has been limited to 2 children.

Divorce Reform Act 1969

Made divorce more accessible as neither partner needed to prove that the fault laid with their husband or wife

Universal Credit

Aims to meet your needs and help you achieve your job goals through supporting the child. From 2016, you could receive a maximum childcare payment of £646 for one child

Child Support Agency

Introduced by Thatcher’s conservative government and enforces payments by absent parents

Supporting Families

Programme which helps parents experiencing multiple disadvantages such as worklessness, domestic abuse and poor mental health. Up to £1.533 billion of funding through the Troubled Families Programme has helped families and local areas to achieve a huge amount. Between 2015 - 2021, more than 870,000 families were supported in a whole family way.

Rashford Meals Campaign

Raised almost £200,000 to pay for 750,000 meals, tackling child poverty.

Parenting Orders

Introduced by the New Labour to teach parents about how to parent truants and young offenders.

Longer Maternity Leave

Introduced by the new Labour, giving 3 months unpaid leave for both parents and the right to seek time off work.

Working Families Tax Credit

Introduced by the New Labour, enables parents to claim some tax relief on childcare costs

The New Deal

Introduced by the New Labour, Helps lone parents return to work.

Gay Marriage

Introduced by the Conservative government in 2014

China’s One-Child Policy

Couples who break the agreement must repay the allowances and pay a fine, causing women to face pressure and undergo sterilisation after their first child.

Couples who comply with the policy get free health care and higher tax allowances. Only children will get priority education and housing later in life.

Women must seek permission when becoming pregnant, as there is a waiting list for each factory.

Communist Romania

Restricted contraception and abortion, made divorce more difficult and lowered the legal marriage age to 15, encouraging couples to have more than one child to drive up the living birth rate due to falling living standards.

Unmarried adults and childless couples paid 5% extra income tax.

Nazi Family Policy

Kept women out of the workforce, confining them to ‘children, kitchen and church’.

Sterilised 375000 disabled people who seemed unfit for breeding grounds.

Restrictions to abortion and contraception to reproduce the ‘racially pure’

Rising Pension Age

Currently, the pension age is 67 years old, but it is rising throughout the years.

1944 Education Act

Introduced the Tripartite system, where students would be placed in a secondary school based on how well they did in the 11+ exams

Grammar Schools, very academic and made for students who passed the 11+ exams, mainly middle class.

Secondary Modern Schools, favoured manual work and was for students who failed the 11+ exams, mainly working class.

Sure Start

Works with parents to promote physical, intellectual and social development of babies and young children.