Liam Foster is a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Sheffield. His principal research interests include pensions, funeral policy and theories of ageing.Anne Brunton is Research Associate at Royal Holloway University of London and Treasurer for the Social Policy Association. Her main interests are social class, culture, criminal justice policy, policing, law, and housingChristopher Deeming is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. His interests lie in Comparative Policy Analysis, topics include: welfare, well-being, and inequality. Here he is supported by a three-year Economic and Social Research Council fellowship (ES/K001353/1).Tina Haux is lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Kent and Honorary Secretary of the SPA. Her main research expertise is family policy with particular emphasis on lone parenthood and welfare to work as well as parenting and separation.

"In brilliantly cataloguing the damage that the Coalition Government has done to both the welfare state and the well-being of thousands of people, and demonstrating the urgent need for social justice, the Social Policy Association has performed a vital democratic task. Every voter should read this before marking their ballot paper." Alan Walker, University of Sheffield

• Introduction ~ Nick Ellison; Section 1: What’s the point of welfare?;What is the state of economic inequality in the UK? And why does it matter? ~ Danny Dorling; Welfare and well-being – inextricably linked ~ Elke Heins and Chris Deeming;Well-being and welfare under the UK Coalition: happiness is not enough ~ David Taylor;‘Ways of extending the welfare state to the poor’ ~ Steve Crossley;Rhetoric and reality: exploring lived experiences of welfare reform under the Coalition ~ Ruth Patrick;Turning lives around? The Troubled Families Programme ~ Harriet Churchill;Section 2: Impact of welfare reforms;High-cost credit and welfare reform ~ Jodi Gardner and Karen Rowlingson;Financial inclusion ~ Lindsey Appleyard, Karen Rowlingson and Stephen McKay;The value of local government for welfare ~ Annette Hastings, Nick Bailey, Glen Bramley and Maria Gannon; Housing and welfare reform ~ Ian Cole and Ryan Powell;‘I’m thinking, god, what am I going to do, I’ve got no money, I need to pay this and I need to pay that, and then I’m going back to the tools that I’m getting from stress management…’ ~ Victoria Armstrong;‘Getting tough’ on the family-migration route: a blurring of the ‘them’ and ‘us’ in anti-immigration rhetoric ~Majella Kilkey;The coming of age of progressive neo-liberal conservative 'welfarism’ under the Coalition government of 2010–15 ~ Robert M Page;Austerity measures across Europe ~ Ludvig Norman, Katrin Uba and Luke Temple;The impact of austerity on women ~ Fran Bennett;Child poverty and child well-being ~ Jonathan Bradshaw;Idle paupers, scroungers and shirkers: past and new social stereotypes of the undeserving welfare claimant in the UK ~ Serena Romano;Legal exclusion in a post-‘LASPO’ era ~ Lisa Wintersteiger;Section 3: Welfare provision – core services;Pensions and the Coalition: a new way forward? ~ Liam Foster and Jay Ginn;A childcare system fit for the future? ~ Jana Javornik and Jo Ingold;‘Universal childcare’ and maternal employment: the British and the Swedish story ~ Ingela K. Naumann;Education: who runs our schools? ~ Stephen J Ball;The impact of the Coalition austerity drive on English statutory homeless service delivery ~ Sarah Alden; Combating modern slavery ~ Gary Craig;Adult social care ~ Jon Glasby, Robin Miller and Catherine Needham;Independent living and disabled people ~ Jenny Morris;How not to do big reorganisations in social policy: the NHS ~ Ian Greener;Domestic violence ~ Rachel Robbins;The environment ~ Tony Fitzpatrick;Section 4: Welfare beyond the state;Big Society or welfare failure: how does food insecurity reflect future welfare trends? ~ Lee Gregory and Ricky Joseph;The voluntary and faith sector: ‘stepping up’ or ‘waving but drowning’ in the era of austerity? ~ James Rees, Rob Macmillan and Heather Buckingham;Food poverty, welfare reform and health inequalities ~ Kayleigh Garthwaite and Clare Bambra; The Big Society and the third sector ~ Pete Alcock;Food banks: the best kept secret of British social policy? ~ Rana Jawad; Section 5: Challenges to welfare;Immigration, social class and politics ~ Anne Brunton;Funerals and the state: an uneasy relationship ~ Kate Woodthorpe and Liam Foster;Devolving social policy: is Scotland a beacon for fairness? ~ Kirstein Rummery;Young people and the predictability of precarious transitions ~ Hannah King;The labour market before and after the recession ~ Stephen McKay and Rose Smith;Activating the (un)employed: embedded trajectories, embedded problems? ~ Eleanor Carter and Adam Whitworth;Towards a rights-based framework in UK welfare-to-work services ~ Dan Heap;‘Digital-by-default’: reinforcing exclusion through technology ~ Simeon J Yates, John Kirby and Eleanor Lockley;Section 6: Looking ahead;Why nationalisation or privatisation of public services might not be the only options ~ Zoe Williams;The Big Society five years on ~ Steve Corbett;Towards an early action social security system ~ Liam Crosby and Luke Price;Defending welfare and the Scottish independence debate ~ Gerry Mooney;No going back? Can the austerity politics of the Coalition be reversed? ~ Peter Taylor-Gooby.