The seminar titled 'The State of the Social Union' was presented by Dr. Mark Simpson, Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Ulster University. It took place on Wednesday 10 May 2023 at 15.30 in INTO offices, 23 College Gardens, Belfast, BT9 6BS.
Details of seminar:
Dr. Mark Simpson, Ulster University presented on 'The State of the Social Union'. Subsequently, a discussion was open to the floor where the chairperson, Dr. Lisa Wilson, NERI presented questions to Mark. See presentation below.
Abstract:
Devolution since 1998 has altered the character of the UK welfare state in various ways, but the period since 2010 has seen particularly significant change in the field of social security. A decade of austerity at national level has exposed diverging opinions of how governments in London, Edinburgh and Belfast view the social rights of citizenship. This political divide has implications for both social security law and the constitutional settlement. In this presentation, Mark Simpson will discuss some of the findings of his book on Northern Ireland and Scotland’s use of devolved social security powers in this period. Devolution has provided opportunities to soften the impact of austerity, but there are important restrictions on the devolved countries’ ability to depart from UK Government policy. Mark will consider the factors that help explain both divergence and parity in this field, and the implications of both policy and ideological divides for the UK’s social union.
Biography of presenter:
Mark Simpson is a senior lecturer in law at Ulster University. His book, Social citizenship in an age of welfare regionalism (Hart, 2022), draws on 10 years of research on social security under devolution. For further information on Mark’s research and publications, see https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/persons/mark-simpson.