UK welfare reform 'uninspiring' and adding to economic woes and inequality

London (July 27 2012). The terms of welfare reform and Labor market activation in the UK need to be re-set, according to a senior university policy expert Andrew Jones, director of the Local Economy Policy Unit at London South Bank University, and editor of Local Economy, published by SAGE. He warns that the UK Government's predominant philosophy towards the UK Welfare state accepts and supports social hierarchy and defends privilege. This, he argues, is re-creating and strengthening the conditions that provoked the 2007 economic crisis.

"The rapid movement along this current trajectory is being propelled by a dominant political party with a long-standing project of reducing taxes and rolling back the state…Its policies will create more poverty and economic instability," Jones says. Contextualizing UK welfare reform in both its historical and international context, a special issue of Local Economy seeks to challenge and readdress how welfare reform is approached and debated in the UK.

Prompted by the current round of reform in the 2012 Welfare Reform Act, the special double issue includes a series of articles which look at social protection and labor market intervention, outline alternative models for the UK's welfare arrangements and reform trajectory in comparison to other countries, and debate whether or not the Reform Act will deliver on its claim for greater simplicity and better work incentives, an objective Jones is doubtful about.

A selection of articles from the issue will be free to access for a limited time here: http://lec.sagepub.com/

"Welfare reform and labor market activation" by Andrew Jones published July 27 2012 in Local Economy

Andrew Jones, editor contact details – localeconomy@lbsu.ac.uk

Local Economy is a peer-reviewed journal operating as an interdisciplinary forum for the critical review of policy developments in the broad area of local economic development and urban regeneration. It seeks not only to publish analysis and critique but also to disseminate innovative practice. From its origins at the Local Economy Policy Unit (LEPU) at London South Bank University, the journal has grown into a key UK-based journal for those who want to critically engage with problems of local economic development and regeneration. It maintains a commitment to grassroots activism, social justice and economic empowerment considered within the context of wider social, political and economic change. http://lec.sagepub.com/

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