Workfare - a blast from the past? Contemporary work conditionality for the unemployed in historical perspective

FLETCHER, Del (2015). Workfare - a blast from the past? Contemporary work conditionality for the unemployed in historical perspective. Social Policy and Society, 14 (3), 329-339.

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Abstract

During 2011, the UK Government introduced the Mandatory Work Activity scheme, which requires JSA claimants to work in order to continue receiving benefit. Workfare has been viewed as a radical departure in the evolution of British labour market policy. However, an historical review of workfare in inter-war Britain reveals that the most recent proposals merely resuscitate a heritage of compelling the long-term unemployed to work for their benefit. Both then and now workfare has flourished in times of economic crisis, and particularly where Governments have pursued economic theories which exalt the market. Historical analysis reveals important continuities and changes in the nature of contemporary workfare.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Published online: 27 May 2014
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746414000232
Page Range:	329-339
Depositing User:	Sarah Ward
Date Deposited:	29 Jan 2015 10:00
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 04:23
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/9152

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