The word "backstop" is both correct and commonly used in written English.
It is a noun that refers to both a physical device that prevents something from moving in the wrong direction, and a figurative term used to refer to something that serves as a guarantee or safeguard. Example sentence: My parents served as a backstop when I was unemployed and struggling to make ends meet.
A DWP spokesperson said: "As the report recognises, sanctions are a vital backstop in the welfare system and are only used in a small minority of cases where claimants don't do all they can to look for work.
Scuttle the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), Obamacare's main backstop for spending.
America's response, though, has been a study in minimalism, an approach set from the top, with Mr Obama worrying that the robust intervention urged by many aides and allies might only make things worse.By way of a legal and moral backstop, Mr Obama has said for some time that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a "red line" and prompt American action.
There is no such euro-zone backstop.
Daniel Tarullo, a governor of the Federal Reserve, argued recently for tougher regulation of foreign banks in America, saying that some governments didn't seem likely to backstop their firms.
When the central bank steps in, the BIS argues thatthe monetary backstop stabilizes the dynamics of government debt by preventing negative shocks from raising the interest rate and the ensuing feedback loop between high interest rates, rising debt and pessimistic expectations.
The companies also say the system should never be needed if wells are properly designed and operated, and that they hope their billion-dollar backstop will never have to be used.
If these countries run into trouble, they will be able neither to draw quickly on loans nor to rely on the backstop of the European Central Bank, whose never-used bond-buying policy, Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT), depends on there being a formal programme.
Plans are afoot to set up a permanent public backstop to mortgage markets (see article), with the government insuring 90% of losses in a crisis.
Alas, a loose arrangement with a flimsy backstop for years to come is the likeliest outcome, given Germany's strong opposition to the commission's proposal this week for a "single resolution mechanism".
It suggests private capital will be attracted if the government continues to backstop deals.
