B62: The Welfare Reform Green Paper and the shift towards workfare

This CLES bulletin identifies the key messages and proposals to emerge from the Green Paper and what each of these will entail for claimants and service providers.

We explore the current policy context within which these reforms are proposed, and consider the challenges for implementation. We consider whether this period of worsening economic turmoil is the right time to be advocating welfare reform and a shift towards workfare-based policy, and look for opportunities to utilise the impetus of welfare reform not in spite of economic downturn, but as part of its remedy.