Working on Welfare: Findings from a Qualitative Longitudinal Study Into the Lived Experiences of Welfare Reform in the UK

This paper presents findings from a qualitative longitudinal study into the lived experiences of welfare reform in the UK. The study set out to explore how individuals directly affected by changes to the benefits system experienced and responded to these reforms. A small group of out-of-work benefit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social policy 2014-10, Vol.43 (4), p.705-725
Main Author: PATRICK, RUTH
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Benefits
Caregiving
Choices
Claimants
Employment
Families & family life
Job Characteristics
Labor market
Lifestyle
Lifestyles
Longitudinal Studies
People with disabilities
Political parties
Poverty
Qualitative Methods
Qualitative research
Reform
Rhetoric
Sanctions
Small Groups
Social policy
Social research
Stigma
United Kingdom
Welfare economics
Welfare Policy
Welfare Reform
Welfare Services
Work
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper presents findings from a qualitative longitudinal study into the lived experiences of welfare reform in the UK. The study set out to explore how individuals directly affected by changes to the benefits system experienced and responded to these reforms. A small group of out-of-work benefits claimants were interviewed three times between 2011 and 2013. The research found that ‘getting by’ on benefits often entailed substantial hard ‘work’, which was frequently time intensive, with many participants also engaged in other forms of socially valuable contribution such as caring and volunteering. A strong orientation towards paid employment was evident across most of the sample and fluid movements in and out of work, characteristic of the ‘low-pay, no-pay’ cycle, was quite common. Alongside a discussion of these findings, this paper considers the (mis)match between the government rhetoric of benefits as a ‘lifestyle choice’ and individual lived experiences.
ISSN:0047-2794
1469-7823
DOI:10.1017/S0047279414000294