ABSTRACT
Government policies which have brought about a restructuring of welfare include: limiting public spending whilst simultaneously encouraging the private sector to respond to the unmet need; increasing the gap between rich and poor by shifting away from progressive taxation; allowing rises in market incomes whilst cutting the value of benefits in real terms; subsidising private pensions and mortgages; and limiting universal benefits in favour of means tested grants and loans. The two Social Security Acts passed in 1980 by the incoming Conservative government explicitly severed the link between long term benefits up ratings and wages, thus keeping uprating amounts to a minimum by linking them to the movement in prices. Social service users' increasing financial need, due to government social security policies were either not recognized by social workers because they took it for granted that social service users were poor or users' financial plight was understood but social workers felt powerless to help.
