The Limits of Welfare Conditionality

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Welfare conditionality says that in order to receive certain benefits citizens must fulfil certain criteria or behavioural conditions. This dissertation asks which conditions a just society may impose on citizens' entitlement to public services and benefits. Additionally it asks how the state may assess whether claimants meet those conditions. The thesis will appeal to the concepts of responsibility and dignity to develop an account of permissible conditions that may be placed on the receipt of welfare and services, and the justifiable means the state may use to determine whether a citizen meets those conditions. The dissertation examines current conceptions of dignity and responsibility and argues that these are not sufficiently developed to allow a thorough investigation into the political ideals that ought to inform normative policy-guidance. My research will produce a more developed account of these concepts in order to answer the above questions. Finally, the dissertation will use the developed account of permissible forms of conditionality in order to evaluate existing policies of conditionality in the UK as well as various proposals for reform.