Welfare Reform on the Web

This website is no longer updated. For issues later than June 2012 please visit the Welfare Reform Digest on the Social Welfare Portal.

The future of the Welfare State is being hotly debated both within the UK and abroad. Social research institutions, think tanks, pressure groups, charities and professional associations have contributed to the debate alongside government opposition politicians and the media. Comment and analysis is found in a wide range of research reports, government consultation and policy papers, academic and trade journals and quality newspapers.

Welfare Reform Digest aims to help social policy practitioners and researchers to keep up to date with this flood of literature.

We systematically scan the quality press, the British Library's intake of social science books and government publications, and a wide range of trade and academic journals to identify relevant material. We then produce full bibliographic references with detailed abstracts to give both the flavour of the cut and thrust of the debate and an overview of the research literature.

The first, pilot, issue covered material scanned from mid June to mid July 1998. The second issue comprised material scanned in March 1999, and new data is now added on a monthly basis.

We hope you find Welfare Reform Digest helpful. After you have had a look at our data, please complete the feedback form below and email it to us. We would particularly welcome comments about:

• the subjects covered. We have taken the broadest definition of Welfare and included Education, Social Housing and some aspects of Employment Policy alongside core topics such as Social Security. Is our coverage too wide, or are there other topics you would like to see added?
• the literature scanned. Our policy has again been inclusive. Should we exclude some categories such as the daily press?

We hope to continuously improve Welfare Reform Digest as a current awareness tool, but we need feedback from you. Please let us know what you think!