Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T13:14:46.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Child benefit Packages in the United Kingdom and Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2013

Jonathan Bradshaw  and
Michihiko Tokoro
Jonathan Bradshaw
Affiliation:
Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York E-mail: [email protected]
Michihiko Tokoro
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Welfare, Osaka City University E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Japan recently introduced a universal child benefit, but its life has been short lived mainly because of the Tsunami and financial problems as well as political conflict over the principles. Meanwhile the Coalition government in the UK, as part of its deficit reduction strategy, has frozen child benefit for three years and taken it back from higher rate tax payers. All other working age family benefits are being cut in real terms. In both countries, state support for families with children is in disarray. This article explores the evolution of the child benefit packages in both countries since 1992. It is based on model family analysis which enables comparison of policies to be made on a consistent basis. It reviews the consequences of these and other changes in the policy package for lone parent and couple families.

Keywords

Child benefitJapanUK
Type
Themed Section on Comparative Perspectives on Poverty and Inequality: Japan and the United Kingdom
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 119 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bradshaw, J. and Tokoro, M. (2012) ‘Child poverty and cash benefit: UK and Japan’ (Japanese), The Quarterly of Social Security Research (Kikan Shakai Hosho Kenkyu), 48, 1, 62–73.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J. (2009) ‘An international perspective on child benefit packages’, in Kamerman, S., Phipps, S. and Ben-Arieh, A. (eds.), From Child Welfare to Child Well-Being: An international Perspective on Knowledge in the Service of Policy Making, Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 293–308.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J. R., Ditch, J., Holmes, H. and Whiteford, P. (1993) ‘A comparative study of child support in fifteen countries’, Journal of European Social Policy, 3, 4, 255–71.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, J. and Finch, N. (2002) A Comparison of Child Benefit Packages in 22 Countries, Department for Work and Pensions Research Report No.174, Leeds: Corporate Document Services.Google Scholar
Mainichi Shinbun (2013) ‘On cutting public assistance – more sensitive measures are necessary’, 29 January.Google Scholar
Marx, I. and Nelson, K. (eds.) (2013) Minimum Income Protection in Flux, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (2013) Family Database, Paris: OECD, www.oecd.org/els/soc/oecdfamilydatabase.htm [accessed 19.06.13].Google Scholar
Tokoro, M. (2012) ‘Recent policy changes in the Universal Child Benefit in Japan’, Local Economy, 27, 5–6, 651–6.Google Scholar