In Part I of this article a typology of existing need indicators was developed. For the ‘meaning’ of a need indicator to be clear, the indicator must be theoretically based. More specifically, it should be rooted in theoretical conclusions about the policy of welfare interventions. In Part II, the theory of the need judgement as a cost-benefit decision is used to provide a basis for a need indicator. This method is then explicated with regard to social services provision for the elderly, so as to provide an indicator which is in fact a standard level of expenditure for social services departments in England and Wales.

During the years following the Boer War, infant mortality became an issue of national importance, and increasing emphasis was placed on the provision of infant welfare clinics and health visitors. The infant mortality rate declined steadily throughout the period, and officials attributed the improvement to the new services. But just as the causes of infant mortality were complex, so were the reasons for the decline in the mortality rate. What needs explanation therefore is why health officials concentrated so exclusively on one particular form of solution. It is argued that this was a consequence of, first, the way in which infant welfare was perceived as a problem of mortality and especially as a problem of diarrhoeal mortality and, secondly, the philosophy of the infant welfare movement, which held that responsibility for infant mortality rested with the individual mother. Infant welfare services were thus compartmentalized as a set of personal social services, and kept separate from broader socio-economic issues.

Despite the existence of sex discrimination legislation certain social policies appear to militate against equal opportunities between the sexes. Community care policies are a case in point, especially with current interest shifting towards ‘care by the community’, and the presumed existence of ‘informal caring networks’, with a view to their effective mobilization at a time of cutbacks both in public expenditure and in domiciliary social service provision for groups such as the handicapped and the elderly. To the extent that community care policies rely on women's unpaid domestic labour and may necessitate their withdrawal from the labour market, such policies could be counter-productive to the promotion of ‘equal opportunities’. The challenge is to devise community care policies which do not disadvantage women and which give men ‘equal opportunities’ to take on caring roles usually assigned to women.

Social security and income maintenance

As January had closed so February opened with anxiety about the effects of cuts in public expenditure on the most vulnerable members of the community. The position was outlined by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Abandoned Social Priorities. Millions of families, the pamphlet said, faced an unjustified fall in living standards as a result of the decreased proportion of national resources being devoted to the poorest section of society. At the same time they faced increased costs of school meals and transport, prescription charges, rents and clothing. In addition, the Labour Member for Birkenhead pointed out in a letter to the Secretary of State for the Social Services that because they were not informed of their right to free welfare foods only 2.5 per cent of 1.5 million families which were eligible to receive them claimed that right. He estimated that this was saving the government £125 million a year. Further spending cuts, already announced, which would amount to £1,000 million in 1980–1 augured a harsh year ahead.