How we broke the welfare state: an essay

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This essay launches Re:State's ‘Re:Imagining Welfare' workstream. Revolutionary at the time, Britain’s social security system has evolved in ways that would be unrecognisable to its founder, William Beveridge. The system is no longer, primarily, a temporary safety net; the contributory principle has been eroded to such an extent that it barely exists; conditionality is applied to an ever diminishing proportion of claimants; and costs are spiralling. Those with the greatest needs are often underserved because the caseloads are too high to enable greater generosity. And the approach to support is impersonal, top-down, and distrusted. This essay sets out the argument for fundamental reform of this broken model.