This paper attempts to clarify the significance of reforms to disabilitybenefits proposed by the New Labour government in 1998, by settingthem in the context of the development of disability benefits since theearly 1970s. The first section charts the creation, extension andsubsequent series of...

This report covers the period October2001 to December 2002: the fifth yearand part of the sixth year of the ESRCCentre for Analysis of Social Exclusion.■ During 2002, the Centre’s work duringits first five years was positively reviewed,and ESRC funding was renewed for afurther five years,...