Broken Benefits: What's Gone Wrong with Welfare Reform?

The United Kingdom is at a critical juncture in welfare policy, as the current government delivers on the previous regime’s austerity-driven reforms while simultaneously cutting an additional £38 billion from benefits spending over the next five years. Broken Benefits is a straightforward guide to the UK welfare system, correcting misunderstandings and exposing some of the less-understood problems. Sam Royston argues that the current government’s twin goals of cutting spending and creating work incentives will ultimately fail to deliver a better system. Drawing on original research and high-profile debates, this much-needed book offers solutions: pragmatic ideas about how the system should be reformed and put into practice, including real-life case studies, models of household budgets, projections of welfare budget spending, and a free online benefits calculator. Accessibly written and offering a blueprint for how welfare should work, Royston presents an alternative vision of a fair, effective, and coherent benefits system for the future.