ABSTRACT
As we have already observed, the social fund, and other discretionary payment schemes, have always represented a relatively small proportion of the overall budget for cash-based social assistance. In net expenditure terms, for example, the previous single payment scheme accounted for no more than 0.5 per cent of the social security budget in 1986, with the net expenditure on the social fund declining to approximately 0.1 per cent of the total in 2001 (see also Craig, Chapter 3, this volume). Despite this, the availability of emergency cash help in the form of one-off grants and loans remains of considerable importance in the overall framework of measures to address poverty. This is both because of its practical efficacy, and because of its symbolic role as a benchmark of prevailing attitudes and policies towards the poor. In particular, it appears to represent a key indicator of the extent to which and manner in which the state is prepared to support its citizens in a crisis.
