Conditionality, activation, and welfare-to-work: street-level perspectives on policy and practice

Policies of 'activation' and 'conditionality' are at the heart of the international welfare reform agenda. In the UK these policies are central features of the ongoing transition to Universal Credit, through which they are being extended to cover new categores of claimant, including those already employed and claiming in-work benefits. During this fellowship I will focus on publishing work, based on my research, which will help academics understand such changes. I will progress a book foregrounding the rich and detailed accounts of frontline welfare practice gathered during my field research. I will also publish several journal articles aimed at diverse academic audiences in order to contribute detailed knowledge of how such policies operate 'on the ground', enhancing understanding of what happens in the gap between policy intention and policy practice. These publications will argue for the need to attend to such 'street-level' spaces and practices if we are to fully understand what such policies mean for people and how they are produced.

Before becoming an academic I worked for several years in various frontline services; first as a work coach on government-funded welfare-to-work schemes, and later as a support worker in homelessness and drug and alcohol treatment services. In different ways, both these roles involved me in major processes of ongoing welfare reform. As a work coach I was directly involved in the frontline implementation of 'activation' and 'behavioural conditionality' - policies whereby entitlement to benefits is made conditional upon the 'active job-seeking' or 'work-preparation' efforts of claimants. Controversially, failure to participate or to meet the requirements of such programmes can result in harsh and potentially lengthy benefit sanctions. As a support worker I frequently found myself on the other side of the desk, helping people to negotiate their encounters with a rapidly changing benefit system.

This fellowship builds on my PhD research, which returned to these street-level spaces to study everyday encounters between benefit claimants and the street-level bureaucrats who monitor their claim. In doing this research I was interested in producing empirically grounded knowledge of how policies of 'activation' and 'conditionality' are implemented, and the rigorous analysis of what such policies mean to people in practice. As such my work seeks to understand - conceptually and empirically - the street-level dynamics and outcomes of ongoing welfare reform and their normative and ethical basis. It also seeks to provide policy-makers, practitioners, and the wider public with the knowledge necessary to understand this changing policy field. During this fellowship I will consolidate my existing research on this topic, making its findings available to academics but also to the policy-makers, practitioners, and the wider public.

With its focus on implementation and practice, my research provides crucial insights for policy makers and practitioners. During the fellowship I will be working alongside key policy stakeholders to influence future policy development and service design. In Sheffield I will work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, to provide evidence-based analysis of frontline practice. I will convene a series of workshops making the insights of street-level policy analysis available to those responsible for shaping policy. In Scotland newly devolved powers over some areas of welfare policy provide a unique opportunity to directly impact policy design and practice. Working the Social Security Agency in Scotland I will build on insights from my research, and develop a practical toolkit for use is the development of employment services. Through these activities the fellowship aims to have a concrete impact on welfare policy and services, based on robust evidence, expertise, and street-level analysis.