The Econmist - USA (2021-10-09)

28 Britain TheEconomistOctober9th 2021

Womenandcrime

In the spotlight

S

entencing wayne couzens on  Sep­

tember 30th for the murder of Sarah Ev­

erard,  Lord  Justice  Fulford  said  that  he

would  spend  the  rest  of  his  life  in  prison

because  he  was  a  police  officer,  and  be­

cause  he  had  abused  that  position  to  ab­

duct  Ms  Everard.  If  the  public  consent

upon  which  authority  of  the  police  relies

was undermined, the judge wrote, “one of

the  enduring  safeguards  of  law  and  order

in this country is inevitably jeopardised”. 

In the days following, the seriousness—

not of the crime, but of its ramifications—

appeared to escape many officers. The Met­

ropolitan  Police,  which  had  employed  Mr

Couzens, issued strange advice for women

who  felt  unsafe  when  apprehended  by  a

police  officer,  including  that  they  call  999

to  check  the  officer’s  bona  fides  or  flag

down a bus. Only after criticism, and after

another  officer  in  Mr  Couzens’s  unit  had

been  accused  of  rape,  did  Dame  Cressida

Dick, the force’s commissioner, announce

a review of police standards and culture.

The Met sits at the apex of 43 territorial

police forces in England and Wales. It is a

national­local hybrid, responsible for pol­

icing the capital and for counter­terrorism

and protecting vips. It reports to the Home

Office  and  the  mayor  of  London,  and  sets

the agenda for policing across the country.

The  case’s  consequences  remain  uncer­

tain. But, says Ben Bradford, a policing ex­

pert at University College London, “it feels

like  this  might  be  another  post­Stephen

Lawrence inquiry moment.” 

The  Lawrence  inquiry  concluded  that

the Met’s investigation into the teenager’s

murder in 1993 had been “marred by a com­

bination  of  professional  incompetence,

institutional racism and a failure of leader­

ship”. Published in 1999, it led to sweeping

changes,  including  an  overhaul  of  com­

plaints procedures and making it possible

for people acquitted of serious crimes to be

re­prosecuted if new evidence emerged. 

Such  a  shift,  says  Professor  Bradford,

depends  on  whether  a  case  “crystallises  a

problem in policing, and makes it very vis­

ible”.Thatseemsincreasinglylikelythis

time.OtherMetofficersarereportedlyun­

derinvestigationforracistandmisogynis­

tic WhatsAppmessages. Femaleofficers

aregoingpublicaboutsexismatwork.

Moreover,theverdictcameonthesame

daythatjudgesontheInvestigatoryPow­

ersTribunalruledthattheMethadviolated

thehumanrightsofa womantrickedintoa

relationshipwithanundercovercopinthe

2000s. In April two Met officers were

chargedwithmisconductafter allegedly

takingandsharingselfieswiththebodies

ofNicoleSmallmanandBibaaHenry,two

sisterswhohadbeenmurdered.

The Met squirms under scrutiny

Chasing away the dark

“P

icture this,”saidRishiSunak,the

chancellor, on October 4th, before

describing a young family keen to pro­

vide the best for their children. “Is the

answer to their hopes and dreams just to

increase their benefits?” The response

“no” was implied in his speech and dem­

onstrated by his government’s actions, as

just two days later it cut universal credit,

a benefit for low­income households, by

around £20 ($27) a week.

A welfare state is supposed to insure

against shocks such as job loss, to shuffle

cash from rich to poor and to smooth

income between youth and old age. In

recent years Britain’s government has

been least concerned by the first of these.

Spending on pensions has risen, but

out­of­work benefits—jobseeker’s allow­

ance until 2013 and universal credit

thereafter—have stagnated (see chart).

Across the mostly rich countries of the

oecd, a typical childless, single person

who became unemployed in 2019 saw up

to 55% of earnings replaced by benefits.

In Britain, that figure was just 12%.

A report in 2019 by Laura Gardiner of

the Resolution Foundation, a think­tank,

considered other trends in welfare

spending. Non­cash support, such as free

school meals, grew. Benefits became

increasingly linked to recipients’ out­

goings, such as those related to disability

or child care. Eligibility rules were tight­

ened, and more support was offered to

help people back into work. Meanwhile

benefits for middle­income households

were trimmed. In 2013, for example, child

benefit became means­tested. All this,

on top of a rising state­pension age,

meant that whereas in 2005 the share of

people receiving a benefit or tax credit

was 72%, by the eve of the pandemic that

had fallen to 62%.

Changestoworking­agebenefitswere

largely the consequence of a desire to cut

costs, not a thought­through strategy.

But taken together, they imply that Brit­

ain’s welfare state envisages middling

and higher earners insuring themselves

against joblessness by saving. The pan­

demic revealed that system’s inadequa­

cies. When covid­19 hit, ministers in the

Department for Work and Pensions

wanted to provide specific help for peo­

ple whose income was affected. But civil

servants were unable to distinguish

between those who were already receiv­

ing universal credit and new claimants. 

So the £20 increase went to everyone,

and a furlough scheme acted as targeted

pandemic support. It replaced previous

income at an average rate of over 90%,

compared with just 53% if claimants had

had to rely on universal credit. As fur­

lough ends and universal credit returns

to its previous level, redistribution is

being unwound. And the insurance role

of the welfare state is returning to its

former Cinderella status, too.

Socialsecurity

Help wanted

Covid-19 highlighted gapsinBritain’swelfarestate

Falling behind

Britain, weekly payments, £

July 2021 prices

Source:ResolutionFoundation

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

25102000908070601949

Basic state pension

Unemployment

benefits

F’CAST