Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.In the latest volume of the long-established Social Policy Review series, leading experts critically assess key developments and debates in social and public policy over the past year.Offering a wide-ranging exploration of contemporary issues – including labour market transitions, migrant experiences, welfare governance and inequalities in care – this book brings together research that reflects the diversity and dyna...

Money was already tight for UK families living on a low income before the COVID-19 pandemic, but national lockdowns made life much harder.Telling the stories of these families, this book exposes the ways that pre-existing inequalities, insecurities and hardships were amplified during the pandemic for families who were already in poverty before COVID-19, as well as those pushed into poverty by the economic fallout it created.Drawing on the Covid Realities research programme,...

The political and economic landscape of UK social security provision has changed significantly since the 2008 financial crisis. This fully revised, restructured and updated 3rd edition of a go-to text book covers all the key policy changes and their implications since the elections of 2010 and 2015.With contributions from leading academics in the field this book critically examines the design, entitlement, delivery and impact of current welfare provision. The first half of the book...

Demonstrating the relevance of theory to political and policy debates and practice, this lively and accessible second edition helps students to grasp the real-life implications of social policy theory.The updated text includes consideration of contemporary shifts in welfare ideologies in the context of global austerity and the UK Coalition and Conservative governments since 2010. With a new chapter focusing on critical debates about disability, sexuality and the environment, this t...

What does day-to-day life involve for those who receive out-of-work benefits? Is the political focus on moving people from ‘welfare’ and into work the right one? And do mainstream political and media accounts of the ‘problem’ of ‘welfare’ accurately reflect lived realities?For whose benefit? The everyday realities of welfare reform explores these questions by talking to those directly affected by recent reforms. Ruth Patrick interviewed single parents, disabled people and young job...

Epdf and ePUB available Open Access under CC BY NC ND licence. The COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone – but, for some, existing social inequalities were exacerbated, and this created a vital need for research. Researchers found themselves operating in a new and difficult context; they needed to act quickly and think collectively to embark on new research despite the constraints of the pandemic. This book presents the collaborative process of 14 research projects working together during CO...