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Beyond Continuity? Understanding Change in the UK Welfare State since 2010
Author(s) -
McEnhill Libby,
TaylorGooby Peter
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12310
Subject(s) - welfare state , welfare , culmination , social security , work (physics) , social policy , state (computer science) , welfare reform , public economics , process (computing) , economics , political science , politics , market economy , law , mechanical engineering , physics , algorithm , astronomy , computer science , engineering , operating system
One approach to identifying policy change stresses policy instruments, settings and policy paradigms, while another also considers the process and culmination of various shifts and consequent outcomes. This article illustrates the debate through an examination of how far developments in social security policy between the 1997–2010 New Labour and 2010–15 Coalition Governments in the UK constituted real policy shifts. It shows that, despite continuities in instruments and approach, there have been substantial changes in the impact of welfare state policies related to short‐term benefits, employment and housing. The article identifies new policy directions leading to a different kind of welfare state, concerned less with living standards and equality and more with individual responsibility and paid work. It suggests that this has been achieved without the need for radical changes in instruments and their settings.