Welfare reform in the United Kingdom has been underway for years now, but there
has been little reflection on how it has been experienced and thought about by
the people who are directly affected by it. This book draws on extended, repeat
interviews with single parents, disabled people, and young job seekers to
consider how they experience the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and
whether the welfare state still offers meaningful protection and security for
those who rely on it. This analysis enables the author to highlight the gap
between the lived experience of welfare and the policy rhetoric surrounding it.