The problem of welfare is of great concern nowadays. And it has been important through the whole history of mankind. Even in the Roman Empire, social welfare to help the poor was enlarged by the

Welfare

The problem of welfare is of great concern nowadays. And it has been important through the whole history of mankind. Even in the Roman Empire, social welfare to help the poor was enlarged by the Caesar Trajan. Then the medieval Roman Catholic Church operated a far-reaching and comprehensive welfare system for the poor. The 12th century witnessed a significant expansion of support for the needy, particularly in the form of hospices, hostels, and hospitals. The concepts of welfare and pension were put into practice in the early Islamic law of the Caliphate as forms of Zakat (charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The taxes collected in the treasury of an Islamic government were used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled.

In the medieval period and until the Industrial Revolution, the function of welfare payments in Europe was principally achieved through private giving or charity. The early English Poor Laws had a great influence on the development of international public policy regarding the poor and unemployed. The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and Wales that developed out of late medieval and Tudor laws before being codified in 1587–98. The Poor Law system was in existence until the emergence of the modern welfare state after the Second World War. English Poor Law legislation can be traced back as far as 1536, when legislation was passed to deal with the impotent poor, although there is much earlier Tudor legislation dealing with the problems caused by vagrants and beggars. The history of the Poor Law in England and Wales is usually divided between two statutes, the Old Poor Law passed during the reign of Elizabeth I and the New Poor Law, passed in 1834, which significantly modified the existing system of poor relief. The later statute altered the Poor Law system from one which was administered haphazardly at a local parish level to a highly centralised system which encouraged the large scale development of workhouses by Poor Law Unions.

The Poor Law system was not formally abolished until the National Assistance Act 1948, with parts of the law remaining on the statute book until 1967. The Poor Law system fell into decline at the beginning of the 20th century due to several factors, such as introduction of the Liberal welfare reforms and the availability of other sources of assistance from friendly societies and trade unions, as well as piecemeal reforms which bypassed the Poor Law system.

It was predominantly in the late 19th and early 20th cent uries that an organized system of state welfare provision was introduced in many countries. Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, introduced one of the first welfare systems for the working classes. Now welfare systems differ from country to country. But before describing the modern welfare states, it’s necessary to say a few words about the concept of welfare and its main characteristics.

Welfare generally refers to government programs that provide money, medical care, food, housing and other necessities for needy people. People who receive welfare include children, the aged, the blind, the disabled and others who cannot adequately provide for themselves and their families. Government welfare programs are also called public assistance. Private charitable organizations also give welfare assistance.

Five main sectors providing welfare may be defined:

· public sector (provision by the state),

· private (provision for profit by commercial organizations or individuals),

· voluntary (provision on a non-profit basis),

· mutual aid (provision by solidarity, such as paying a subscription, offering labour, or participating in management - and receive support on a mutual basis)

· informal (provision by friends, neighbours and families).

A welfare state is a concept of government where the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. The general term may cover a variety of forms of economic and social organization. Welfare state can also mean the creation of a "social safety net" of minimum standards of varying forms of welfare.

There is some confusion between a "welfare state" and a "welfare society," and debate about how each term should be defined. In many countries, especially in the United States, some degree of welfare is not actually provided by the state, but directly to welfare recipients from a combination of independent volunteers, corporations (both non-profit charitable corporations as well as for-profit corporations), and government services. This phenomenon has been termed a "welfare society," and the term "welfare system" has been used to describe the range of welfare state and welfare society mixes that are found. The welfare state involves a direct transfer of funds from the public sector to welfare recipients, but indirectly, the private sector is often contributing those funds via redistributionist taxation; the welfare state has been referred to as a type of "mixed economy".

There are two main interpretations of the idea of a welfare state:

· A model in which the state assumes primary responsibility for the welfare of its citizens. This responsibility in theory ought to be comprehensive, because all aspects of welfare are considered and universally applied to citizens as a "right".

· Welfare state can also mean the creation of a "social safety net" of minimum standards of varying forms of welfare.

But in many "welfare states", social protection is not delivered by the state at all, but by a combination of independent, voluntary and government services. These countries are still usually thought of as "welfare states".

Welfare may be funded by governments out of general revenue, typically by way of redistributive taxation. There are two ways of organizing a welfare state.

The first model: the state is primarily concerned with directing the resources to “ the people most in need ”. This requires a tight bureaucratic control over the people concerned. According to the second model the state distributes welfare with as little bureaucratic interference as possible, to all people who fulfill easily established criteria (e.g. having children, receiving medical treatment, etc). This requires high taxing.

A social welfare provision refers to any government program and which also seeks to provide a minimum level of income, service or other support for disadvantaged peoples such as the poor, elderly, disabled, students, unpaid workers such as mothers and other caregivers, and minority groups. Social welfare payments and services are typically provided free of charge or at a nominal fee, and are funded by the state, or by compulsory enrollment of the poor themselves. Examples of social welfare services include the following:

· Compulsory superannuation savings programs.

· Compulsory social insurance programs, often based on income, to pay for the social welfare service being provided. These are often incorporated into the taxation system and may be inseparable from income tax.

· Pensions or other financial aid, including social security and tax relief, to those with low incomes or inability to meet basic living costs, especially those who are raising children, elderly, unemployed, injured, sick or disabled.

· Free or low cost nursing, medical and hospital care for those who are sick, injured or unable to care for themselves. This may also include free antenatal and postnatal care. Services may be provided in the community or a medical facility.

· Free or low cost public education for all children, and financial aid, sometimes as a scholarship or pension, sometimes in the form of a suspensory loan, to students attending academic institutions or undertaking vocational training.

· The state may also fund or operate social work and community based organizations that provide services that benefit disadvantaged people in the community.

· Welfare money paid to persons, from a government, who are in need of financial assistance but who are unable to work for pay.

The effect social welfare has on poverty is controversial. Since the goal of welfare programs is to reduce poverty, it has been debated whether or not welfare programs achieve this goal. Proponents argue welfare has reduced poverty in developed countries while opponents argue welfare incentives more poverty. Studies show that in welfare states poverty decreases after countries adapt welfare programs. Empirical evidence suggests that taxes and transfers considerably reduce poverty in most countries, whose welfare states commonly constitute at least a fifth of GDP. Opposition to welfare programs has been primarily in the United States and it asserts that Welfare creates dependence and doesn’t stimulate people to find work. This dependence is called a " culture of poverty ”.

There is much criticism of welfare programs. Many people believe that welfare encourages its recipients to become dependent on government support. Some people criticize welfare programs for not providing enough benefits to eliminate poverty. Welfare discourages some recipients from seeking employment, especially if they cannot get much more money from a job than they can get from benefits. Many people also criticize the welfare system for being too complex and costly to administer. Each program has its own requirements and ways of calculating benefits. Welfare programs also may affect family stability. Unhappy marriages may break up partly because some benefits are available.

Now, let’s distinguish between different types of welfare states that are presented in different countries. Let’s take Europe for instance. The welfare state is a defining feature of Europe referring to a model of provision where the state accepts a certain amount of responsibility for the guarantee of welfare for its citizens. Currently, there is no European welfare state, but 27 member states that have different social policies, with both similarities and differences among them. The following types of welfare states can be defined:

· The continental welfare state (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria) is characterized by the strategy of “paying off” social problems. The compensatory measures are predominant, together with a high degree of regulation in industry. The welfare state is “the compensator of first resort”, while universalism has been undermined by the “institutionalized full employment promises” and “private labor market practices”. However, the insurance-based unemployment benefits and the generous welfare funds led to the reduction of poverty and a very good health care.

· The Scandinavian welfare state (Sweden, Denmark, Finland), also known as the “Swedish model” stresses the right to work for everyone, the state being the “employer of first resort”. The state is in charge of financing and organizing the social benefits for the citizens and the welfare model is accompanied by both a broad basis of taxation and a high taxation burden. The “Swedish model” also has the advantage of having a more simple organization than the other European countries because most of the welfare tasks are carried out by the state and the local authorities and it is less dependent on individuals, national welfare organizations, families or churches.

· The Anglo-Saxon welfare model (UK, Ireland) is also called the “residual welfare model” and it has a low degree of job protection. It is characterized by selectivity, which translates in easy hiring and firing of employees by companies. Unemployment is kept at a much lower level than in the other member states. However, this social strategy has proven unsuccessful in reducing poverty, as the expenditures on welfare is much lower than those of the other European states (for UK it is 22% of the national budget). There have been cuts in national insurance benefits, the abolition of the link between the state pension and average earnings, incentives to transfer to private pensions, and cuts in entitlements to unemployment and disability benefits.

· The Mediterranean welfare state (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece) is characterized by a “rudimentary welfare state”, with a strong internal polarization in social benefits. Although there is no minimum income scheme in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, the retirement benefits for the citizens who qualify are the highest in Europe. There is a class of “hyper-protected individuals" (white-collar workers), but also a large number of unprotected individuals (irregular workers, young people and the long-term unemployed). The degree of state activity in the welfare sector is extremely low and not efficient in reducing poverty at the lower end of society.

Another example of welfare state is Canada. The country has a wide range of government transfer payments to individuals. All provinces in Canada provide universal, publicly funded healthcare, with their costs partially subsidized by the federal government. Mandatory primary education is provided by all provinces for a nominal cost. Private education is also available but its comparatively high costs and the relative quality of public education prevent many parents of using it as compared to the United States or Britain.

The main guiding philosophy for the creation and expansion of the U.S. welfare state is modern liberalism, which holds that positive rights, such as health care and education, are requirements for individual liberty. The main developments of federal provision were during the Roosevelt administration of the 1930s, which laid the foundations for the social security system, and the "War on Poverty" of the 1960s, which provided some important benefits (notably health care for people on low incomes) and engaged the federal government in a wide variety of projects and activities at local level. Currently total social welfare expenditure constitutes roughly 35% of GDP. The American welfare state is distinguished from other welfare states in the developed world through its extensive reliance on the private sector, and the lack of universal income support and universal health insurance.

A social safety net in Belarus is based on a guarantee of employment and a number of allowances and benefits for particular needs. The government's greatest social expenditures are for pensions. The relatively low retirement age (fifty-five for women and sixty for men) and the country's demographic structure account for the large number of pensioners.

The government provides a number of other benefits, including lump-sum grants upon the birth of each child; temporary disability allowances; trips to sanatoriums, spas, health homes, vacation resorts, and other facilities; and benefits for victims of the Chornobyl' disaster.

But the law of 2007 abolished welfare benefits in relation to groups such as students, most categories of disabled persons, disability and old-age pensioners, workers involved in restoration works in Chernobyl or former concentration camp prisoners. According to the Belarusian government, the measures are necessary in order to downsize Belarus' excessively inflated welfare system, and to allocate budget funds in a better-targeted manner. According to various sources, the reform generates budget savings of $100-300 mln a year.

In 2011 the Belarusian Finance Ministry will change the budget structure towards spending more on welfare, Belarusian Finance Minister said. The social package that the state offers to the society will be increased through a considerable growth of salaries and other social guarantees.

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