ABSTRACT
This chapter purposes is to examine the desirability and feasibility of the integration option. But it is helpful to look at the other two approaches first, for there is no single integration option and the same issues cut across the boundaries between integrated and dual systems time and again. In the UK integration is only one of three main reform options, which can be summarised as first, Back to Beveridge, or coordinated reform within the existing dual systems of mainly categorical benefits and income tax reliefs. Second, Back to the Poor Law, or privatisation of social security alongside increased emphasis on income tax reliefs. Third, Forward to the twenty-first century, through integration of income tax reliefs and social security benefits, and guaranteed basic income. One consequence of welfare crisis is that it enables those who dislike state-financed social security in principle to discredit the whole idea, when all that is needed is thorough-going reform.
