www.social-policy.org.uk
IN DEFENCE OF WELFARE 2 Edited by Liam Foster • Anne Brunton • Chris Deeming • Tina Haux IN DEFENCE OF WELFARE 2
Edited by Liam Foster, Anne Brunton, Chris Deeming and Tina Haux
About Us
The SPA was founded in 1972 and we have a large membership in the UK and internationally.
Aims
• To promote the discipline of social policy. • To represent its members’ interests. • To promote communication and learning between its members and with policy makers and the wider public.
Objectives
• To promote the discipline by engaging in consultation with organisations responsible for post-com- pulsory education and social science research in the UK. • To promote research, teaching and practice in social policy and work to enhance the public profile of the subject through engagement within and beyond the discipline. • To provide a forum for the exchange and dissemination of ideas. • To offer an unparalleled opportunity to keep in touch with national and international developments in a fast-changing policy environment. • To actively promote stronger international links. • To enhance the long-term development of the discipline by liaising closely with the Economic and Social Research Council and other bodies involved in postgraduate training; and provide a range of services to support and encourage advanced studies in social policy.
Key activities include:
• An academic conference each summer, regularly attracting up to 250 delegates from the UK and overseas. • Support for the two leading international academic social policy journals, Journal of Social Policy and Social Policy and Society, and the annual Social Policy Review publication. • An active network and regular seminars and conferences for social policy post-graduate students. • Engagement with UK higher education funding bodies; other learned societies in the humanities and social sciences; policy makers and policy users.
Our membership
Most of our members are teachers and researchers in social policy and applied social science within UK higher education, although we also have a significant and growing number of members from other European, Asian and Australasian countries. As an outward-looking association we seek to engage in global aspects of social policy and with scholars residing outside of as well as within the UK.
Web details
For more information about the SPA and what we do please visit: http://www.social-policy.org.uk/ Comment and contact
Media enquiries: SPA Media Relations, Nasar Meer, +44 (0)7719 172281 [email protected] @SocialPolicyUK
Find an expert
SPA members regularly provide content to the media. The SPA’s on-line members’ directory allows journalists and others to search members by research interests and expertise http://www.social-policy. org.uk/find-an-expert/ and provides contact details. Alternatively, contact the SPA’s Media Relations Officer with specific requests (details above).
SPA Annual Conference 2015, Belfast
The SPA Annual Conference 2015 ‘Social Policy in the Spotlight: Change, Continuity and Challenge’ will take place from 6-8th July at Belfast Metropolitan College, Titanic Quarter, Belfast. Confirmed plenary sessions include:
Mary O’Hara, author of Austerity Bites (Policy Press, 2014), is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles, writing about health, poverty and social justice in the US and the UK.
Jane Jenson is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Montreal, where she holds the Can- ada Research Chair in Citizenship and Governance (sponsored by the Journal of Social Policy).
Colin Crouch is Professor Emeritus, University of Warwick and External Scientific Member, Max-Planck-InstitutfürGesellschaftsforschung, Cologne.
David Donnison is Professor Emeritus in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow, having worked at the Universities of Manchester, Toronto, the L.S.E., and Glasgow. He has published extensively in the areas of social Policy and Urban Studies including, most recently, Speaking to Power (Policy Press, 2009).
The conference will include a wide range of themed papers and symposia examining various dimen- sions of social policy and welfare provision in the UK and wider international contexts. Online booking and further conference details can be found at: www.ulster.ac.uk/cpsp/spa/
2 In Defence of Welfare 2 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 7 Nick Ellison – Chair – Social Policy Association, University of York
WHAT’S THE POINT OF WELFARE?
What is the state of economic inequality in the UK? And why does it matter? 9 Danny Dorling, University of Oxford
Welfare and well-being – inextricably linked 13 Elke Heins, University of Edinburgh, and Chris Deeming, University of Bristol
Well-being and welfare under the UK Coalition: happiness is not enough 16 David Taylor, University of Brighton
‘Ways of extending the welfare state to the poor’ 21 Steve Crossley, Durham University
Rhetoric and reality: exploring lived experiences of welfare reform under the Coalition 24 Ruth Patrick, University of Leeds
Turning lives around? The Troubled Families Programme 28 Harriet Churchill, University of Sheffield
IMPACT OF WELFARE REFORMS
High-cost credit and welfare reform 32 Jodi Gardner, University of Oxford, and Karen Rowlingson, University of Birmingham
Financial inclusion 36 Lindsey Appleyard, University of Birmingham, Karen Rowlingson, University of Birmingham, and Stephen McKay, University of Lincoln
The value of local government for welfare 39 Annette Hastings, University of Glasgow, Nick Bailey, University of Glasgow, Glen Bramley, Heriot Watt University, and Maria Gannon, University of Glasgow
Housing and welfare reform 42 Ian Cole and Ryan Powell, Sheffield Hallam University
‘I’m thinking, god, what am I going to do, I’ve got no money, I need to pay this 46 and I need to pay that, and then I’m going back to the tools that I’m getting from stress management…’ Victoria Armstrong, Durham University
‘Getting tough’ on the family-migration route: a blurring of the ‘them’ and ‘us’ 49 in anti-immigration rhetoric Majella Kilkey, University of Sheffield
In Defence of Welfare 2 3 The coming of age of progressive neo-liberal conservative ‘welfarism’ under 52 the Coalition government of 2010-15 Robert M Page, University of Birmingham
Austerity measures across Europe 55 Ludvig Norman and Katrin Uba, Uppsala Universitet, and Luke Temple, University of Sheffield
The impact of austerity on women 59 Fran Bennett, University of Oxford and member of Women’s Budget Group
Child poverty and child well-being 62 Jonathan Bradshaw, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York
Idle paupers, scroungers and shirkers: past and new social stereotypes of 65 the undeserving welfare claimant in the UK Serena Romano, University of London
Legal exclusion in a post-‘LASPO’ era 68 Lisa Wintersteiger, Law for Life, Foundation for Public Legal Education
WELFARE PROVISION – CORE SERVICES
Pensions and the Coalition: a new way forward? 72 Liam Foster, University of Sheffield, and Jay Ginn, King’s College, London
A childcare system fit for the future? 75 Jana Javornik and Jo Ingold, University of Leeds
‘Universal childcare’ and maternal employment: the British and the Swedish story 79 Ingela K. Naumann, University of Edinburgh
Education: who runs our schools? 83 Stephen J Ball, University College London
The impact of the Coalition austerity drive on English statutory homeless 87 service delivery Sarah Alden, University of Sheffield
Combating modern slavery 91 Gary Craig, Durham University
Adult social care 94 Jon Glasby, Robin Miller and Catherine Needham, University of Birmingham
Independent livin