Reform Act

In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is a generic term used for legislation concerning electoral matters. It is most commonly used for laws passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Reform Acts

The parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom was expanded and made more uniform through a series of Acts of Parliament, also known as Representation of the People Acts, beginning in 1832.

Reform

Reform means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill’s Association movement which identified “Parliamentary Reform” as its primary aim.

Reform is generally distinguished from revolution. The latter means basic or radical change; whereas reform may be no more than fine tuning, or at most redressing serious wrongs without altering the fundamentals of the system. Reform seeks to improve the system as it stands, never to overthrow it wholesale. Radicals on the other hand, seek to improve the system, but try to overthrow whether it be the government or a group of people themselves.

Rotation in office or term limits would, by contrast, be more revolutionary, in altering basic political connections between incumbents and constituents.

Developing countries may carry out a wide range of reforms to improve their living standards, often with support from international financial institutions and aid agencies. This can include reforms to macroeconomic policy, the civil service, and public financial management.

Reform Act 1832

The Representation of the People Act 1832 (known informally as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act to distinguish it from subsequent Reform Acts) was an Act of Parliament (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) which introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. According to its preamble, the Act was designed to "take effectual Measures for correcting diverse Abuses that have long prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament". Before the reform, most members nominally represented boroughs. The number of electors in a borough varied widely, from a dozen or so up to 12,000. Frequently the selection of MPs was effectively controlled by one powerful patron: for example Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk controlled eleven boroughs. Criteria for qualification for the franchise varied greatly between boroughs, from the requirement to own land, to merely living in a house with a hearth sufficient to boil a pot.

Welfare Reform Act

Welfare Reform Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom relating to social security benefits.

The Bill for an Act with this short title may have been known as a Welfare Reform Bill during its passage through Parliament.

List

United Kingdom

Northern Ireland

United States

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act is sometimes referred to as the Welfare Reform Act of 1996

See also

Welfare reform

Welfare reforms are changes in the operation of a given welfare system. Welfare reforms are often more aligned with neo-liberal policies. In the United States, welfare reform was used to get Congress to enact the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which further reduced aid to the poor, to reduce government deficit spending without coining money.

Regional examples

United States

United Kingdom

New Deal

In recent years reform of the welfare system in Britain began with the introduction of the New Deal programme introduced by the Labour government in 1997. The aim of this programme was to increase employment through requiring that recipients make serious efforts to seek employment. The Labour Party also introduced a system of tax credits for low-income workers.

Welfare Reform Act 2007

The Welfare Reform Act 2007 provides for "an employment and support allowance, a contributory allowance, [and] an income-based allowance.".

Welfare Reform Act 2009

Welfare Reform Act 2012