英国贫困儿童社会救助法律机制探赜

On the Legal Mechanism of Social Assistance for Children in Need in the UK

英国是世界上最早以立法形式保护贫困儿童的国家之一。21世纪以来英国颁布了一系列贫困儿童社会救助法案,其社会救助措施主要体现在提高家庭生活水平、帮助改善失业状况、努力实现教育公平以及发放补贴减轻压力等方面。英国建立了较为完善的儿童社会救助体制,形成了社会救助与社会保险福利的有机衔接,打通了民主的决策机制和跨部门的有效合作。英国在贫困儿童社会救助中积极发挥“政府-企业-机构”多元儿童社会福利治理合力作用,把实现教育福利作为阻断儿童贫困代际传递的根本途径,把追求社会公平与市场效率平衡作为儿童社会救助的价值目标。英国儿童社会救助的法律规制,对我国健全中国特色贫困儿童社会救助体系具有一定借鉴意义。

The UK is one of the first countries in the world to protect children in need by legislation.Since the 21st century,UK has promulgated a series of social assistance laws for children in need,and its social assistance measures are mainly reflected in improving the living standards of families,helping to improve the unemployment situation,striving to achieve education equity,and providing subsidies to relieve pressure.UK has established a sound social assistance system for children,formed the cooperation between social assistance and social insurance benefits,and created a democratic decisionmaking mechanism and effective crosssectoral cooperation.In UK’s social assistance for children in need,a“government—enterprise—institution”multipleparty children social welfare governance system plays an active role.Education welfare is the best way to solve the problem of the transmission of child poverty from generation to generation.The value objective of social assistance for children is the pursuit of social equity and the balance of market efficiency.The legal regulation of children’s social assistance in Britain provides a reference for China to establish and improve the social assistance system with Chinese characteristics for children in need.