Winning the intergenerational wars? Intergenerational fairness, welfare reform and families

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to examine public spending cuts and welfare reforms to assess winners and losers amongst older people, children, young people and families. It proposes ways in which intergenerational fairness could be achieved through taxing wealthier older people.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews and analyses spending and policy plans from 2010 onwards, and draws conclusions.

Findings

The paper concludes that children, young people and families are the relative losers of government spending cuts and reforms; older people have been relatively protected; the focus should be on taxing wealthier older people; intergenerational fairness needs to be addressed.

Originality/value

Research tends to focus on one age group, so there have not been many studies which contrast the impact of public policy on different age groups. The concept of intergenerational fairness is only beginning to be discussed.

Citation

Burke, S. (2013), "Winning the intergenerational wars? Intergenerational fairness, welfare reform and families", Working with Older People, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 37-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/13663661311312575