The UK's Labour Government has expanded means-testing of social security but attempted to do so while minimising the disincentive effects typically associated with such an approach. We test whether it has succeeded by reviewing the effect of 5 years of reforms on a range of incentives across the...

The current Labour Government was elected in 1997 with few specific social security proposals. This paper argues that after five years, consistent trends in social security policy have emerged: there is a willingness to increase benefits; a “work-first” focus; increasing centrality for...

The UK system for social insurance has evolved over the past sixty years in response to both changes in government policy and changing social circumstances. The current system has moved away somewhat from the old Welfare State principles. The current social insurance system in the UK is targeted...

In the past decades self-employment has gained importance in both countries Germany and the United Kingdom. In particular the proportion of solo-self-employment shows an increasing trend. This development has created new challenges for social risk management strategies. It raises the question of...

This paper summarizes a set of expert reports commissioned by the IFAU. The expert reports cover Estonia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. These countries represent range of welfare states, both in terms of scope and design. And in each country there are...

This paper reviews how income-support systems affect labour force participation in the UK. The UK's approach to social insurance is basic security, with modest, typically flat-rate, benefits; insurance-based benefits are relatively unimportant. Compared with the EU, the UK has high employment...

In recent years, a large number of studies have investigated the relationship between social security benefits and male retirement decisions in developed countries. However, women's and couples' labour supply decisions and the patterns of withdrawal from the labour force in emerging economies...

[Introduction ...] This paper aims to draw out useful lessons from PSNP’s policy framework and design, but not to evaluate them. While it refers to some evaluations of PSNP, the main interest in this regard is to understand how these evaluations have influenced policy and design changes to the...

Public works and employment programmes have long been considered a staple of social assistance. For the most part, though, they have been designed as short-term safety nets. While, in some cases, the focus has also been on reducing poverty or addressing structural unemployment challenges, their...