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Children's services in England are undergoing their most radical transformation since 1948 following the passage of the Children Act 2004. A key part of these changes is the legal requirement to have an Integrated Inspection Framework to assess the extent to which the new Children's Services Authorities have succeeded in meeting five key outcomes—being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being. To this end, up to ten national inspectorates have to coordinate their activities to a hitherto unparalleled extent. This article describes the nature and scale of the new remit and identifies a number of unresolved issues that could impede progress. It is argued that the policy has the hallmarks and accompanying limitations of a top–down exercise in policy formulation and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explores the experiences and attitudes of welfare recipients towards Indonesia's conditional cash transfer (CCT/PKH) program. The specific objectives of our paper include examining the program's impact on impoverished families, their response to stereotyping, and the implications of stereotyping for government policy among Indonesian low‐income families. We conducted twenty in‐depth interviews with key stakeholders (program professionals, community leaders, program facilitators) and end‐users (beneficiaries). Despite the attached stereotype, our findings show that not all beneficiaries with improved socioeconomic conditions wish to leave the program. In many cases, this occurs as beneficiaries use their CCT/PKH accounts as collateral to borrow from unregulated lenders and repay their debts. A few instances where we found self‐voluntary withdrawal from the program were only caused by the shame of receiving stickers attached to their homes – not because of their social‐economic status improvement – leading to difficulty affording their necessities afterwards. Overall, the finding that individuals, whether eligible or not, are not ashamed to claim PKH, despite the stigma attached to the program, contrasts with studies on welfare stigma, claiming that stigma can prevent individuals from claiming their welfare rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The policy implementation process is often overlooked when policy is introduced potentially leading to policy failure. This is particularly relevant in complex policy areas where there is a lack of collaborative policy‐making and where implementation is in dispersed governance. This paper discusses the findings of a study examining a novel policy implementation support programme developed by the English Department of Health for the Care Act 2014, the most significant changes to the provision of social care for 60 years. Given the complexity of the changes, the Department of Health and its key partners introduced an Implementation Support Programme to increase the likelihood of effective implementation. As part of a suite of research studies, we examined the effectiveness of the implementation support programme in helping local authorities, responsible for social care delivery, implement the key Care Act priorities. We found that the support programme was effective in supporting 'implementation readiness' particular in situations where the context and policy itself are complex. We found that while important for the delivery of policy, such support programmes do not necessarily in themselves guarantee successful implementation. However, future evaluations of policy should include examining how the implementation is, or is not supported, in order to fully understand reasons for policy success and failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to critically explore how qualitative case study research that is founded on realist principles can fundamentally enhance social policy evaluation methodologies and, in turn, provide improved learning for policy makers and practitioners. We suggest that these methodological advantages are accrued through the careful construction of theory‐based explanations of "how" policy programmes work thereby addressing the limitations of quasi‐experimental methods—namely, a focus on and prioritisation of outcome measures. The paper situates this key argument within wider, long‐standing debates about evidence‐based policy making and what constitutes "evidence" of impact in social policy. It does so through reflection on the contentious and contradictory knowledge claims that surround the Troubled Families Programme and evaluative claims regarding its efficacy. In conclusion and looking forward, we suggest that there remains much scope to combine "intensive" qualitative case studies with "extensive" quantitative measures within local and national evaluations of complex, multidimensional social policies, such as the Troubled Families Programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which diversity is taken into account in the conceptualization, definition and role of the voluntary sector as well as policy debates around the recasting of relations between the state and the voluntary sectors. The paper is based on a study of voluntary sector organizing among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens in the city of Toronto. It presents an overview of LGBT voluntary sector organizing in the city, demonstrating the rich network of non-profit organizations that serve the LGBT community in the city of Toronto, Canada's largest city. The paper argues that the dominant cross-national and cross-time definitions of the voluntary sector do not account for some of the specific features of LGBT organizing and result in the marginalization of such organizing from the very concept of the voluntary sector. The paper discusses the implications of this mapping for policy discussions of the state–voluntary sector relationship. Drawing on the Canadian experience of government consultation with voluntary sector organizations, the paper demonstrates that such initiatives define certain forms of diversity in voluntary sector organizing out of the policy-making process. Traditional policy-making around voluntary sector issues is organized in ways that exclude urban and local identity-based organizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major problem hindering rigorous analysis in social policy is the diverse and imprecise meanings attached to the term "welfare state". In widespread usage the term has become emptied of all explanatory meaning and is used as a synonym for modem industrial states, all of which provide welfare for some of their inhabitants. The converse of the term (what modem industrial state is not a welfare state?) is rarely if ever addressed. In an attempt to encourage debate on the development of productive theory, the paper therefore discusses issues surrounding a discriminating definition of "welfare states" and points to former assumptions that they "ensure a minimum real income for all" to distinguish them from unwelfare states which benefit some but not all. It suggests a research agenda to provide empirical data which would enable welfare states to be identified and classified in terms of the effectiveness of their policies and provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Zealand health system was substantially reformed in 1993 with the introduction of a purchaser-provider split, competitive contracting and managerialism. The new system failed to deliver the desired gains and, in 1996, the reforms were "reformed". While there has been widespread study of the 1993 reforms, there has been little discussion to date of the 1996 changes and the emerging directions for New Zealand health policy and service delivery, which remain unclear. This paper discusses the New Zealand health reforms of the 1990s. It briefly outlines the 1993 reforms and their results. Next, it details the 1996 "reforms". Third, it discusses developments since 1996, some of which have emerged out of the 1993 reforms, but which have gathered momentum only since the 1996 changes were announced. In the conclusion, the paper lists some of the directions in which the New Zealand health sector appears to be heading, noting that there is a need for coordination of the sector, and for permanence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory policy making is a contested concept that can be understood in multiple ways. So how do those involved with participatory initiatives make sense of contrasting ideas of participation? What purposes and values do they associate with participatory governance? This paper reflects on a Q‐method study with a range of actors, from citizen activists to senior civil servants, involved with participatory initiatives in U.K. social policy. Using principal components analysis, supplemented with data from qualitative interviews, it identifies three shared participation preferences: participation as collective decision making, participation as knowledge transfer, and participation as agonism. These preferences demonstrate significant disagreements between the key informants, particularly concerning the objectives of participation, how much power should be afforded to the public, and what motivates people to participate. Their contrasting normative orientations are used to highlight how participatory governance theory and practice frequently fails to take seriously legitimate diversity in procedural preferences. Moreover, it is argued that, despite the diversity of preferences, there is a lack of imagination about how participation can function when social relations are conflictual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do rural communities manage the challenge of local governance and community capacity-building, given the policy choices of central government (both state and national) in favour of global resource-development industries? Central government policy choices expose rural communities to the vagaries of the global economy, even as the Australian government's stated intent vis-à-vis rural Australia is the exact opposite: to encourage locally driven economic and community sustainability. Rural development policy in Australia often has the effect of denying the very outcomes it hopes to achieve. On the one hand, government policies encourage rural communities to be independent, to build 'social capital', and to add value to their local produce; on the other hand, macroeconomic policies change the contexts within which these communities function, creating a tension which is difficult to reconcile. In the case of the Western District of Victoria, an established agricultural and pastoral region, the cycles of economic activity have been disrupted in recent years by new and exciting global industries whose trajectories sit largely outside local control. This paper questions whether governments have a systemic view of the impact of these competing demands on rural communities, and calls for a more informed, whole-of-government policy-making for the development of Australia's rural regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the election of a neo-liberal provincial government in 1995, Ontario was at the forefront of work-based welfare reform in Canada. Many of the sweeping reforms carried out under the banner of the“Common Sense Revolution” received widespread coverage: for example, reductions in welfare rates, the introduction of the Ontario Works programme, the adoption of a zero-tolerance policy for so-called welfare fraud, and changes to the rules relating to common-law spousal relationships. However, much less attention has focused upon significant changes to the ways welfare is delivered. This paper critically interrogates a number of key changes to the Service Delivery Model in Ontario. After the passage of federal legislation in 1995, national entitlements to welfare have been terminated, replaced with local responsibility; this decentralization is changing not only the hierarchy of the regulation of poor people, but also the form and function of provision. In particular, there is evidence of the reinvention of administration towards the micro-regulation of job search and personal behaviour and the deterrence of welfare receipt as applicants and recipients are bureaucratically disentitled. Although administrative practices have historically acted as a secondary barrier to welfare receipt, the paper suggests that the current incarnation of work-enforcing reforms could be especially significant as the worlds of welfare and work continue to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The marginal role of social assistance and the absence of minimum income programmes have long been thought to constitute defining characteristics of the southern European model of welfare. Nevertheless, over the 1990s significant innovations in this field have taken place. The paper aims to contribute to the analysis of recent developments by critically examining the experience of anti-poverty policies in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. It is argued that the “patchiness” of safety nets in southern Europe is due to a unique set of constraints, the most relevant of which are the role of families and the “softness” of state institutions. A review of national profiles reveals that new policies introduced in all four countries mark progress towards redressing some of the historical imbalances of that welfare model. In particular, fully fledged minimum income schemes now operate in Portugal and in certain Spanish regions, while an experiment involving a number of Italian municipalities is still in progress. In spite of this, the paper concludes that social safety nets in southern Europe remain frail in terms of institutional design as well as political support and legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the impact of recent government initiatives upon childcare provision for children under the age of five. It is based upon interviews with parents and providers from two contrasting wards in Liverpool. The aim of the research was to identify key issues and concerns with regard to childcare, and perceptions about the impact of developments within social security and education provision. Government policies have concentrated on supporting working parents who need to pay for formal childcare, and on providing an earlier start to the formal education of young children. There is a fear that this focus may be failing to recognize and support the diversity of families and their childcare needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses historical and emerging dimensions of citizenship within Aotearoa/New Zealand. Drawing on Turner’s work, it explores the utility of Marshallian distinctions of civil, political and social citizenship. These evolutionary notions are seen as problematic, given the historical treatment of the Chinese community, and the abrogation of the Treaty of Waitangi with respect to European–Maori relationships. Ideas of the “worker citizen”, “military citizen” and “parent citizen” are discussed in relation to historical foundations of entitlement and their contemporary challenges. Considerations include a shift to non-standard employment, reconceptualization of New Zealand’s role as a Pacific nation, and demographic and value shifts. The non-governmental sector as a “fourth” route to entitlement is examined, including notions of community capacity-building with particular respect to Maori. The paper concludes with a commentary on current debates around the nature and shape of New Zealand nationality, identity and citizenship. Ecological debates include the use and guardianship of natural resources and the opposition of public opinion to genetic modification. Indigenous developments include the assertion of Treaty rights by Maori in relation to land, language and economic and social development. Cultural dimensions include the changing population structure as reflected in the growth of Pacific Island nations, Asian populations and the refugee community. The interplay of these ecological, indigenous and cultural dimensions will help define emergent citizenships for Aotearoa/New Zealand in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This response deals with Atherton's objections in so far as they are relevant and restates the importance of clarity about the content of the term "welfare state". It suggests that the term be restricted to states which offer a minimum real level of living to all their citizens, and shows that it is possible in both principle and practice to compress income inequalities to a point where poverty is effectively abolished. The article discusses some of the logical and semantic problems that have arisen as terms such as "welfare state" and "welfare regime" have been adapted to make international comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Labour has put supporter the family at the core of its notion of the "strong community". Across a range of policy areas the Labour government can be seen to be developing a direct and explicit family policy. But what kind of community is the government trying to shape by these policies? On the one hand, Labour appears to support the family as the basis of a more moral, dutiful and cohesive community. On the other hand, the government has given weight to policies that support social inclusion in the community through paid work. This paper examines whether there is a tension in Labour's social policies between its emphasis on the importance of stable family life and the primacy given to paid work. Are critics like Ruth Levitas right when they argue that the government's emphasis on paid work devalues, and is unsupportive of, unpaid work, especially caring for children and other family members? Alternatively, can this combination of communitarianisms—community as "stable family" and community as "paid work"—be seen to be marking out some "third way" on the family? We shall show that different aspects of the government's family policies reflect different perspectives and policy agendas' within New Labour and third-way thinking more broadly. And while recognizing the tensions between work and the family, we shall suggest that they are often overstated and fail to give sufficient weight to the complementary aspects' of Labour's welfare reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adapts the Rawlsian idea of decision making behind the veil of ignorance in the realm of income transfer systems. As rational decision makers, we would plan a society where the incidence of poverty is low, differences in the level of living between life cycles are small, income differences between the rich and poor are modest, income mobility from poverty to non-poverty is high, and where the living standard of the poor is decent. The results show that income mobility is not greater in those countries which have wide income differences, nor is the situation of the poor any better in countries with huge income disparities than in other countries. Cross-national comparisons indicate that high poverty rates are not associated with more rapid income mobility and higher standards for the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twelve years of the Wilson and Callaghan governments are a particularly interesting period for anyone studying the contributions made by academics to social and urban policies in Britain. They were never more active in the corridors of power. This paper begins by outlining the origins and priorities of policy during these years. An account is then given of the "drama" through which British social reforms usually proceed, and the parts played by different kinds of people in each act of that drama. In the more important debates a crucial stage is often reached when the issues at stake are reformulated. A new "story" about society's problems comes to be accepted in the nation's policy forums. This analysis sets the scene for an exploration of the contributions made by academics during the Wilson and Callaghan years, throwing some light on their strengths and weaknesses. The paper ends with conclusions which may be helpful today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive discrimination is a contentious topic both politically and in social policy terms. Reasoned debate about it has been hampered by a fundamental misunderstanding what it is and what makes it peculiar, that took hold in the immediate post-Plowden era. This paper argues that what distinguishes positive discrimination from other practices with which it has been confused, such as selectivity and positive action, can only be understood in terms of basic canons of social or distributive justice. Having established the moral standing of positive discrimination, the paper goes on to examine arguments that attempt to "justify" it either in terms of justice itself or of utility, and to identify the circumstances in which its use might be "justified" in Britain. The questions that surround its proper use are identified as being in large measure moral dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores policies, trends and challenges related to social inclusion in Macedonia, and assesses the contribution of EU strategic frameworks and instruments towards the country's greater inclusive growth. In this respect, the article starts by exploring existing instruments for pre-accession ( IPAs) which are relevant for the achievement of the EU 2020 goals. Then the article offers a country analysis related to issues such as poverty, material deprivation, as well as exclusion from the labour market, accompanied by an overview of policies and measures undertaken by the current government in the respective domains. Unfavourable socio-economic trends, such as undeclared work, jobless growth, high unemployment and poverty rates, present serious challenges to the creation of an effective social inclusion policy. On the other hand, the 'delayed' negotiation process with the EU, which in social policy results in a lack of Joint Inclusion Memorandum ( JIM) and Joint Assessment Paper ( JAP) processes even after seven years of candidate status, slows down the adoption of more strategic policy approach towards sensitive issues, such as social inclusion and anti-discrimination. The main aim of the article is to assess whether there is a significant difference between current social inclusion policies, measures, indicators and trends with the similar EU standards and practices. In addition, the article explores the potential benefits of the process of Europeanization for Macedonian social inclusion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the ways in which the UK hunting lobby has historically sought to widen its appeal by wrapping the hunting debate up in broader countryside issues in an attempt to present it as an integral part of rural life. It is based upon a detailed analysis of the re-branding of the hunting lobby and the subsequent framing of the Countryside Alliance's Liberty and Livelihood March in the British newspaper press in September 2002. This illustrates how the hunting lobby has fed upon and promoted the perception of a growing urban-rural divide in the UK. The analysis suggests that there is a long history of symbiotic relationships between campaigning organizations promoting a 'countryside agenda' and the politically partisan UK press. Gaining extensive newspaper access, however, does not guarantee that a protest group is successful in its aims. This case study suggests that it is important to consider the less visible processes of news production within their historical context, and in relation to the broader policy-making arena, to adequately assess whether there has been a fundamental shift in the relationship between protest movements and the press in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levels of child poverty in Northern Ireland are high; 32 per cent of children live in households whose only income derives from benefits, compared with 19 per cent of children in Britain living in families totally dependent on benefits. Unemployment, low pay, a higher cost of living, low levels of public services, including childcare and support services for people with disabilities, slightly larger families and a lack of access by poorer women to the means of limiting their family size, together with even greater levels of inequality than in Britain, all contribute to the high levels of child poverty in Northern Ireland. This paper argues that even the less ambitious child poverty targets announced by the Department of Work and Pensions at the end of 2003 will not be met unless there is a fundamental change in the government's approach. In particular, evidence from Northern Ireland suggests that its insistence on work as the primary—if not only—route out of poverty will not lead to a radical reduction in levels of child poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a major cause of death and ill health, accounting for roughly one in four deaths in the UK. Concern with cancer services was expressed in the 1990s when it was reported that the quality of cancer care was patchy and variable, and clinical outcomes varied in different parts of the country. The Calman-Hine Report (1995) produced specific recommendations for the reorganizing and reconfiguring of cancer services, but although the Conservative government, which commissioned the report, endorsed its suggestions no additional funding was provided to implement the proposed changes, and consequently there remained variations in provision across geographical areas and between patients with different cancer types. However, since 1997 the Labour government has targeted cancer, appointing a Cancer Tsar, announcing a package of measures to“fight the war against cancer”, including the publication of a) and with Tony Blair pledging to end the postcode lottery for cancer treatment. This paper explores the concept of the“postcode lottery of cancer care”, why it exists and whether measures taken since the Calman-Hine Report and the Cancer Plan will address it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raising standards is one of the key objectives of the British government's Modernizing Agenda. The quality of life of vulnerable older people who are being maintained at home is fundamentally dependent on the quality of the home-care services they receive, so raising standards of home care is clearly central by this agenda. This paper draws on a small-scale study of service users and providers to examine the aspects of quality of home care of importance by older people, their experiences and barriers to improvement. Six key aspects of quality were investigated: reliability, continuity, flexibility, communication, staff attitudes and skills and knowledge. If performance indicators are to have the desired effect, more work needs to be done by ensure they reflect key aspects of quality from the user perspective. We identify potential areas for improvement in commissioning and organization but these all have resource implications that will need to be met if home care is to realize us full potential in maintaining and improving quality of life for older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England, the quality of clinical work is being regulated in new ways following recent developments in “clinical governance” policy and apparent failures in the previous system of medical self-regulation. Using multiple case studies, this paper examines how these changes are affecting professional governmentality and discipline in general practice. Formal organizational structures play little role in clinical governance there. Clinical quality is managed largely through semi-formal networks, relying on medical self-surveillance. Compliance is achieved largely by discursive appeals to the legitimacy of clinical governance, but local GPs’ leaders also argue that governments might otherwise regulate medical practice more actively. As yet the effects of clinical governance activity on service delivery are slight. Professional self-regulation is replacing permissive exception management with more collegial, directive methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a wide-ranging review of social policy trends and developments in China. It details the characteristics of what had been traditional social polity during the first 40 years of the People's Republic. It then looks at the pressures on this system in the context of Market Reform and the Open Door policy, and comments on the changing roles of government, NGOs and urban employment units, in the societalization of social policy away from the state welfare model. The general direction of reform is portrayed as neo-liberal, geared to reducing the role of government in the provision of welfare and to increasing individual responsibility for social security and well-being. However, there is as yet no prospect of a fully privatized social welfare system, owing to the continuing weak state of the non-governmental sector. In conclusion, prospects for the future are analysed and summed up in the light of the government's two overriding policy objectives: economic development, coupled with the maintenance of social/political stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the first to explore the concept of 'Citation classics' in social policy by examining the articles published in five leading social policy journals that have 50 or more Web of Science (WoS) citations. It introduces the concept of citation analysis; discusses 'citation classics' in terms of definitions, measures, journals and databases; examines the literature on other social sciences, and particularly social work; and then focuses on the empirical material of citation classics in social policy journals. It finds 79 articles with 50 or more citations. Over half of the articles were written by authors based in the UK at the time of publication, with most of the others from the rest of Europe. About two-thirds were classified as 'conceptual', and about a quarter were quantitative. Surprisingly few were qualitative or reviews. Roughly one-third of articles were mainly focused on a particular service area, with the leading areas being employment, health, social care/community care or long-term care. For the setting or focus of the study, nearly two-thirds were comparative, while about a quarter were based on the UK. The leading topic was welfare regimes (14 articles). The limitations to this analysis include focusing on five social policy journals, and ignoring other outputs such as books; and the problem of determining what influence these articles have on the field of social policy. However, exploring the neglected area of citation classics in social policy provides one way of determining intellectual significance within the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite rhetorical agreement amongst all major political‐economic actors around the importance of education policy in the knowledge economy, the reform of education systems remains a complex political endeavour. The article explores the politics of education policy by focussing on its multi‐dimensionality. It argues that education systems simultaneously perform three functions: they distribute educational opportunities; they provide skills to the labour market; and they are a source of public sector employment. It is argued that policy change in one dimension is likely to trigger spill‐over effects onto the others, giving rise to complex political dynamics at the intersection of the parliamentary and corporatist arenas. It is in this context that centre‐left and centre‐right parties (try to) pursue distributional goals whilst being pressured by different interest groups. The theoretical argument is explored empirically through a detailed reconstruction of over a decade of intense reform activity in the Italian upper‐secondary education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As countries transition from industrial to post‐industrial knowledge economies, education and skills are crucial. Consequently, policy‐makers around the globe have increasingly focused on social investment, that is, policies aiming to create, mobilize, or preserve skills. Yet, countries around the globe have developed social investments to different degrees and in highly different forms. Our goal is twofold: First, we introduce a new typology of social investment policies, distinguishing nine types along two dimensions: three distributive profiles (inclusive, stratified, targeted) and three functions (skill creation, preservation, mobilization). This differentiation allows fine‐grained analyses of the causes and consequences of different kinds of social investments, thus offering a perspective to study the relationship between efficiency and inclusiveness in a way that goes beyond the mere discussion how social investment policies grosso modo affect inequalities ('equalizing' versus 'Matthew Effects'). Second, we theorize on the politics of social investment. We argue that the interaction of policy legacies and socioeconomic factors is the main explanation for which functions of social investment policies are introduced, whereas their distributive profiles are crucially shaped by political coalitions. We illustrate with empirical material from democracies around the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative welfare state research as examined the outcomes of active labour market policies (ALMP) and work‐family reconciliation policies by and large been separately. As a result, potential complementarities between these policy areas have received scant attention empirically. Using macro‐level data, this study answers the question to what extent, and in which way, governments' efforts in ALMP and in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are complementary to each other in promoting women's employment rates and reducing women's unemployment and inactivity rates in 30 OECD countries from 1985 to 2018. The article theorises about how the various policies that constitute a welfare state relate to each other, distinguishing between pluralism, complementarity and substitutability. These findings provide support for the notion of welfare pluralism, in the sense that ALMP and ECEC policies work together in improving women's employment rates in slightly different ways: ALMP achieve this through reducing women's unemployment rates, whereas ECEC also achieve lower inactivity rates for women. There was, however, more support for the notion of substitution rather than complementarity: the marginal benefits associated with an increase in either ALMP or ECEC were smaller in the context of large investments in the other policy. In other words, the highest rates of women's employment, and the lowest rates of unemployment and inactivity, are found in countries with large investments in both ALMP and ECEC, but such higher investments are associated with diminishing returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid‐19 has highlighted the inadequacy of UK social security but also the lack of consensus among progressive actors about what would be a better system. One way forward is to focus on the principles that should underpin social security. We present outcomes from a project in which principles were considered by a panel of Expert by Experience benefit claimants. We argue that while scholars often engage in descriptively identifying social security principles in existing policy, the bottom‐up approach presented here offers a way of generating normative principles to guide an improved future system. We identify key contributions of this bottom‐up approach relating to: the critical importance of principles as a guide to the fundamental purpose of social security, and policy making; the relationship between the treatment of claimants and benefit levels as co‐dependent; and how a bottom‐up process can produce results that engage with and contribute holistically to the debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sanctions are payment cuts that case managers implement in order to discipline welfare recipients. Previous research suggests that immigrants face a particularly high risk to receive such reductions, primarily due to the prevalence of stereotyping in street‐level bureaucracy. The study contributes to this literature with help of a triangulation between in‐depth interviews, survey data and administrative records for the case of the German social assistance system. Our findings indicate that immigrants tend to be sanctioned at a lower rate than other benefit recipients in this context, especially if they arrived at the country only recently on grounds of international protection. This finding can be explained by the importance of reciprocity and control in the country's 'Bismarckian' welfare state. Our qualitative data shows that case managers exert a considerable level of agency over the implementation process. This discretion is, on the one hand, used to discipline benefit recipients who are perceived as having contributed little to the welfare system as a whole through taxes and social insurance contributions. Those who are considered to have limited control over their labour market position, on the other hand, are given a certain degree of leeway. We therefore conclude, against the background of the current street‐level bureaucracy literature, that immigration can also act as a deservingness cue in means‐tested social assistance, given that the benefit system is embedded into a welfare regime in which labour market participation, work‐testing and social insurance contributions are the dominating principles of eligibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Netherlands, the USA and Australia, public funding has promoted parental choice by introducing a voucher scheme for child care, where parents are free to choose the provider. The policy experiments and the outcomes in these three countries provide useful information about the consequences of introducing a voucher scheme in the child care market. We show the voucher system can be effective in increasing demand, but there can be uneven supply responses. The structure of the voucher income scheme and quality controls affect the nature of the supply response. We argue that voucher schemes must take into account the complex nature of the child care market and the substitutability among free public care, private market care and unpaid household care. To secure quality and access, government also must play a coordinating role that vouchers alone cannot supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community engagement has come to the fore as a policy and programme approach that seeks to connect citizens both with each other and with government in order to deliver improved social and economic opportunities and outcomes. This model has become a key aspect of the intervention approach within Indigenous communities and is seen to have particular application in addressing community justice issues. This article examines a suite of community justice initiatives being used in Indigenous communities in Australia with a view to ascertaining how the principles of community engagement are operationalized. The article draws on this information and argues that community engagement is only one aspect of a number of community-oriented justice initiatives currently being applied. These initiatives range from concepts of community as a location, community as an interest group, and the leveraging of community capital so as to tap into and build better and stronger relationships. In so doing, the latter attempts to increase the social infrastructure, resources and capacity of communities. However, despite government attention in this area, there is a lack of a policy and programmatic framework to guide a coherent and apposite approach to issues of community in specific policy settings. The article contributes to the development of a framework that begins the process of differentiating and assessing justice administration interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector services are audited, measured and ranked in order to improve quality and transparency and to prompt organizations to conform to normative definitions of quality. In Swedish eldercare, a nationwide user survey distributed by the public authorities to all eldercare users, designed to gauge user satisfaction, is a prominent example of this form of soft governance. The aim of the present study is to investigate nursing home representatives' meaning making of the user survey and its function. The findings from 24 qualitative interviews suggest that despite professional scepticism about flawed measurement procedures and tools and thus the validity of the survey results, organizations adjust the care they offer in order to improve low scores. External pressure and the risk of shame and a bad reputation may explain their willingness to let survey results guide their organizational improvements. The article concludes that practitioners may rely on their professional knowledge to dismiss the validity of normative external demands on one level but still manage such demands by making organizational changes on another level for the sake of good reviews. Moving between these levels makes it possible for respondents to be simultaneously critical and compliant. As an organization will need to appeal to external assessors of quality if it is to manage its reputation by achieving high scores, the audience's perceptions risk overriding care users' voices—the very voices the survey is intended to listen to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we discuss research programming as one of the means to bridge the gap between research and policy. Over the last decade research programming has come to be an integral part of science policy in the Netherlands. As an example of research programming put into practice we describe and evaluate the activities of the Programming Board for Research into the Social Services. We indicate the assets and liabilities of research programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government policy in the UK has been to provide comprehensive personalized health care to the whole population free at the point of delivery. However, the first major attempt to unify and regionalize the service in 1974 left a number of problems, and a further restructuring of the, NHS was required. This article reports on the results of research into the 1982 restructuring. The main feature of this second reorganization was the formation of territorial entities called "Districts "', and their organizational subdivision into "Units ". The kind and level of work and authority assigned to Districts and Units is discussed. An important finding, seemingly counter to official policy, is the existence of small Districts which operate at the same level as Units of the larger Districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an introduction to the regional issue on the politics of safety net reform in Southern Europe during the Great Recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the recent economic crisis, in 2011, Portugal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund (the "Troika"). In exchange for Troika's financial assistance, the Memorandum required the implementation of a specific set of reforms targeted at the healthcare sector. The literature on policy reforms in the context of crisis and conditionality argues that governments have restricted room to manoeuver in responding to external pressure. We challenge this view, finding that even in cases of conditionality and strong external pressures, crisis can be used as a window of opportunity for reforms substantially shaped by domestic policy choices. In the case of Portuguese health reforms, these choices were based on pre‐existing reform plans aimed on resolving country‐specific deficiencies of the healthcare system and were enabled by the two main political parties' strategies of tacit cooperation and blame avoidance. The article emphasizes the need for more fine‐grained analysis of welfare reforms in the crisis that pays equal attention to the institutional characteristics and the political context of the affected countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits traditions of observational fieldwork inside welfare institutions which formed a core part of past social administration teaching and research in the United Kingdom. Drawing on archive materials, a historical exploration of journal contents and some supplementary interview data, it is argued that such approaches—though carried out in a less theoretically pluralist, more vocationally‐oriented time for the subject of social policy and administration—were at the same time valuable in facilitating critical perspectives on how welfare bureaucracies work. Their popularity is potentially rising once again in social policy teaching. Where cultivated alongside an appreciation of theory and where carefully integrated into university social policy departments' wider pedagogical and curricular strategies, they may be of benefit today to students and more senior scholars alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While social and public policy studies recognize the diversity of actors and processes occurring in the implementation of policy and the organization of public service delivery, analysis of the role of value pluralism in implementation remains underdeveloped. This article contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between value pluralism and organizational responses to value conflict by exploring the effect of politics on the value choices of senior public servants involved in the design and implementation of Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme. Our analysis shows that politics may play an essential role in facilitating implementation of a complex social policy that contains a number of incommensurable values because successful politics allows these incommensurable values to co‐exist and adaption to take place, thereby avoiding organizational dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses some of the challenges encountered in embedding effective and sustainable social enterprise and social innovation within established political institutional systems to deliver local welfare services. It draws upon evidence analyzing social innovation and social enterprise in Scotland to contribute to the debate over whether social innovations and social enterprises are able to meet expectations in addressing the significant challenges faced by welfare systems. The article clarifies the meaning of both these contested concepts and explains how social innovation and social enterprise relate to similar ideas in social and public policy. The evidence suggests that actually operating social enterprises and social innovations do not embrace the image of them promoted by enthusiasts as either "entrepreneurial" or "innovative". Furthermore, they bring distinctive challenges in delivering local welfare services, including potential tensions or rivalry with existing public agencies. The article suggests that social enterprises and social innovations are not themselves instigators nor catalysts for systemic change, but that their impact is constrained by structural conditions and institutional factors beyond their control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article explores two questions: (1) Does knowledge about poverty and exposure to poverty affect the perceptions of policymakers about how to deal with the problem? (2) Does policymakers’ trust in members of society affect their perceptions regarding ways of dealing with poverty? Based on interviewees with 103 policymakers in Israel, the findings reveal that knowledge about poverty and trust in the members of society have an effect on policy perceptions. The result may have a theoretical contribution to the policy theory at the individual level and practical implications for policy entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this article we compare the introduction of individualized budget policies for people with disabilities in Australia and England. Data is drawn from semi‐structured interviews undertaken in Australia with politicians, policymakers, providers, disability rights groups and care planners, along with analysis of policy documents. This data is compared to the authors’ earlier research from England on the personalization narrative. We argue that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) currently being introduced in Australia deploys an insurance storyline, emphasizing risk‐pooling and the minimizing of future liabilities. This contrasts with the dominant storyline in England in which attention has focused on the right to choice and control for a minority of the population. This difference can be explained by the different financial context: the NDIS needed to build public and political support for a large increase in funding for disability services, whereas in England the reforms have been designed as cost‐neutral. Tensions in the English narrative have been about the extent to which personalization reforms empower the individual as a consumer, with purchasing power, or as a citizen with democratic rights. Australia's approach can be characterized as a form of social investment, evoking tensions between the citizenship of people with disabilities now and the future worker‐citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The United Kingdom has been a laggard in developing early years education and care, but the Labour Governments of 1998–2010 increased childcare places significantly, and the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition of 2010–15 continued to expand provision, despite its stringent austerity policy. However, the problem of securing availability, affordability, and quality persisted. The Coalition Government (very unusually) transferred policies from its Western European neighbors (the Netherlands and France) in order to address these issues. We show why differences in context made the kind of policy transfer that took place inappropriate and how this was related to the fate of the reform proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article investigates the interplay between social policies, industrial relations, and housing regimes in order to explain the development of occupational pensions. The structure of statutory provisions and industrial relations of the Bismarckian “latecomer” Belgium make it appear a “most likely case” for a successful transition into “mature” multi‐pillarism. The continued importance of outright homeownership in the retirement package turns out to be a key in explaining that such a transition largely failed in Belgium. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, two financial crises have eroded the apparent advantages of securing the second‐tier function of retirement provisions by relying on prefunded occupational plans and a financialized housing regime. The crises provoked a drift away from the “high road” of second‐pillar pensions, and initiated a process that increases the importance of outright homeownership in the retirement package at the expense of generously funded occupational plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article examines outsiders' relative access to occupational level family‐friendly policies. I use data from the European Working Conditions Survey of 2015 across 30 European countries examining workers' access to two types of family‐friendly working‐time arrangements (WTAs): flexitime, and time off work for personal reasons. The article focuses on women with care responsibilities given that their demands for family‐friendly policies, as well as their outcomes, have been shown to be distinct from the rest of the working population. In addition to the outsider definition used in the labor market dualization and occupational segmentation literature, i.e., low‐skilled workers and those without a permanent contract, this article also defines outsiders as those perceiving their job as insecure. The results of the analysis show a segmentation between workers in their access to family‐friendly policies. Unlike statutory policies, occupational policies seem to be selectively provided mostly to workers where employers have a vested interest, i.e., insiders, resulting in a dualized system for most countries. However, rather than their contract status, the skill‐level of the job/workers, and their perceived insecurity were found to be important. The results further show that although Northern European and some continental European countries are those where family‐friendly WTAs are more readily available, it is in these countries where the division between insiders and outsiders is the greatest. The results of the article contribute to the literature by showing a need to move beyond the national level when examining family‐friendly policies, and to examine a more diverse definition of outsiders when examining dualization of working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this article is to shed light on the nexus between occupational pensions (OPs) and the financialization of pensions in Europe. In particular, we address the following questions: Has the recent evolution of OPs contributed to the financialization of pension policy? Is the nexus between OPs and financialization the result of the increased influence of financial markets in the pension field? Or of a more complex interaction of state, market, and social actors? By comparing Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, we show financialization is a broad process that affects the three countries, but it has followed three different paths. In Italy, financialization is spreading through individual pension schemes rather than OPs. The Dutch collective OPs are still a central part of the pension systems, but are increasingly influenced by the financial markets. In the United Kingdom, employer‐led OPs are in the hands of the financial services industry. This proves that financialization is a powerful trend, but has to deal with domestic socioeconomic institutions (a country's political economies and pensions institutions) that shape actors' strategies and reforms. Financial actors have an increased role in pension politics, but are involved in complex interactions with the state, employers, and trade unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically engages with Saxonberg's proposal (2013) to replace the (de)familialization perspective with the (de)genderization approach in comparative family policy/regime studies. It argues: (1) there is a need to refine the term '(de)familialization' and to bring in the child's and elderly's perspective; (2) the '(de)familialization' and '(de)genderization' perspectives are mutually irreplaceable; and (3) there is a need to conceptualize the theoretical relationship between these two perspectives. The article further proposes to use the theoretical framework of Amartya Sen's Capability Approach (CA) to reinterpret both analytical perspectives with a dual advantage using that approach would lend. It first conceptualizes the de-familializing and de-genderizing policies as 'means' designed to increase peoples' 'capabilities' to achieve 'valued functionings' and not ultimate goals of policies that aim to change people's 'functionings'. Thus, it addresses the criticism of de-familialization and de-genderization as policy strategies that enforce certain, potentially controversial ideals of societal and familial relations. Second, by using crucial CA concepts, i.e. 'means', 'capabilities' and 'functionings', it refines the interpretation of policy-, regime- and outcome-oriented analyses (typologies). As a result, it clarifies the distinction between these types of analyses and highlights the advantages of both a policy approach and a redefined regime approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social policy prescriptions for Latin America have shifted significantly over recent decades. This article tracks a process by which a conditional cash transfer (CCT) to mothers, begun in a Mexican programme with some pretensions to promoting gender equality, was standardized by international organizations, becoming a policy instrument characterized by gender sensitivity, but having little attention to equality. In addition to involving certification by international organizations, this standardization process framed the CCT as an instrument of social investment and was a decontextualization of the Mexican version that had been influenced by Beijing-style international feminism. The third phase of this trajectory was take-up of the standard model by Peruvian policymakers and employees of the Juntos programme who overlaid their long-standing representations of their indigenous clientele onto a supposedly 'modern' social policy instrument, thereby rendering it both maternalist and neo-colonial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although serious and long-term commitment to homelessness prevention is evident in some countries in the form of primary prevention measures, it is not clear whether a strong shift has already been made from secondary to primary prevention. It is argued here that after almost two decades of literature regarding the 'prevention turn' in homelessness policy, one may speak of primary prevention in the prevention stage, and add secondary and tertiary prevention to each of the other three stages of homelessness policy - early, emergency, and long-term intervention strategies. Yet, there must be an attempt at primary prevention, which is more difficult to maintain, mainly for financial reasons. Political will is one key to success in doing this. Homelessness prevention policies are explained in this article using the case study of Israel's policies in 1948-2010. The findings indicate that Israel dealt with a high risk of homelessness in the 1950s and again in the 1990s through primary homelessness prevention by intervening in the housing market and providing cash assistance. Subsequently, after an overall homelessness policy was first published in Israel in 1996, prevention almost disappeared. However, it seems that, since then, prevention still manifests itself in the form of secondary prevention measures, such as public assistance benefits and housing subsidies. Tertiary prevention also seems to exist, addressing the more entrenched nature of homelessness by means of permanent supportive housing. This article shows that where there is a will there may be a way for prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]