6. Family Policy Since 2010

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about family policy since 2010 and its consequences, focusing in particular on: (i) cuts to family-related services brought on by austerity, such as the reduction in Sure Start centres and the abolition of Educational Maintenance Allowance; (ii) the 2012 Troubled Families Programme, which sought to assist 120,000 families identified as the most prone to crime and unemployment; (iii) reforms to the welfare system, such as the implementation in 2017 of a cap on child-related benefits; (iv) key changes in family life since 2010, including a decline in the birth rate.

Course

In this course, Professor Pat Thane (Birkbeck, University of London) explores family policy in Britain since the 1960s. In the first lecture, we set the context by thinking about some key features of family life prior to the 1960s. In the second lecture, we consider policies introduced by the Labour government of 1964-70. In the third lecture, we look at the impacts of these reforms and further changes implemented Labour governments between 1974 and 1979. Next, we look at the policies of the Conservative governments of 1979-97. In the fifth lecture, we explore the New Labour years from 1997 to 2010. In the sixth and final lecture, we look at some important policy changes that have occurred since 2010.

Lecturer

Professor Pat Thane is Visiting Professor in History at Birkbeck, University of London. She researches twentieth century British history, with a focus on social policy. Her recent publications include Divided Kingdom: A History of Britain, 1900 to the Present (2018), Sinners? Scroungers? Saints? Unmarried Motherhood in Twentieth Century England (2012) (with Tanya Evans) and Happy Families? History and Family Policy (2011).