Conditionality, activation, and welfare-to-work: street-level perspectives on policy and practice

“激活”和“附加条件”政策是国际福利改革议程的核心。在英国，这些保单是正在进行的向Universal Credit过渡的核心特征，通过这一过程，它们正在扩展到涵盖新的索赔对象，包括那些已经就业和申领在职福利的人。在此期间，我将根据我的研究，专注于出版工作，这将有助于学者了解这些变化。我将写一本书，突出我在实地研究期间收集的关于第一线福利实践的丰富和详细的描述。我还将发表几篇针对不同学术受众的期刊文章，以便详细了解这些政策如何在实地运作，加深对政策意图和政策实践之间的差距的理解。这些出版物将主张，如果我们要充分理解这些政策对人们意味着什么，以及它们是如何产生的，就有必要关注这样的街头空间和做法。在成为一名学者之前，我在各种一线服务机构工作了几年；首先是政府资助的福利到工作计划的工作教练，后来是无家可归者和毒品和酒精治疗服务的辅助工作者。以不同的方式，这两个角色都让我参与了正在进行的福利改革的主要进程。作为一名工作指导，我直接参与了“激活”和“行为条件”政策的一线实施，根据这两项政策，享有福利的条件是索赔人“积极寻找工作”或“工作准备”的努力。有争议的是，如果不参加或不满足此类方案的要求，可能会导致严厉的福利制裁，而且可能会持续很长时间。作为一名支持工作者，我经常发现自己在办公桌的另一边，帮助人们与快速变化的福利制度谈判他们遇到的问题。这项奖学金建立在我的博士研究基础上，我的博士研究回到了这些街头空间，研究了福利申领人和监督他们索赔的街头官僚之间的日常接触。在做这项研究时，我感兴趣的是产生有经验的知识，了解‘激活’和‘有条件’的政策是如何实施的，以及对这些政策在实践中对人们意味着什么的严格分析。因此，我的工作试图从概念和经验上理解正在进行的福利改革的街头动态和结果，以及它们的规范和伦理基础。它还试图为政策制定者、从业者和更广泛的公众提供必要的知识，以了解这一不断变化的政策领域。在这次研究期间，我将巩固我对这一主题的现有研究，将其结果提供给学术界，也提供给政策制定者、实践者和更广泛的公众。我的研究侧重于实施和实践，为政策制定者和实践者提供了至关重要的见解。在奖学金期间，我将与关键的政策利益攸关方一起工作，以影响未来的政策制定和服务设计。在谢菲尔德，我将与工作和养老金事务部密切合作，为一线实践提供基于证据的分析。我将召开一系列研讨会，向负责制定政策的人提供街头政策分析的见解。在苏格兰，新下放的福利政策某些领域的权力提供了直接影响政策设计和实践的独特机会。在苏格兰的社会保障机构工作，我将从我的研究中获得见解，并开发一个实用的工具包，用于就业服务的发展。通过这些活动，该研究金旨在以强有力的证据、专业知识和街头分析为基础，对福利政策和服务产生具体影响。

Policies of 'activation' and 'conditionality' are at the heart of the international welfare reform agenda. In the UK these policies are central features of the ongoing transition to Universal Credit, through which they are being extended to cover new categores of claimant, including those already employed and claiming in-work benefits. During this fellowship I will focus on publishing work, based on my research, which will help academics understand such changes. I will progress a book foregrounding the rich and detailed accounts of frontline welfare practice gathered during my field research. I will also publish several journal articles aimed at diverse academic audiences in order to contribute detailed knowledge of how such policies operate 'on the ground', enhancing understanding of what happens in the gap between policy intention and policy practice. These publications will argue for the need to attend to such 'street-level' spaces and practices if we are to fully understand what such policies mean for people and how they are produced.Before becoming an academic I worked for several years in various frontline services; first as a work coach on government-funded welfare-to-work schemes, and later as a support worker in homelessness and drug and alcohol treatment services. In different ways, both these roles involved me in major processes of ongoing welfare reform. As a work coach I was directly involved in the frontline implementation of 'activation' and 'behavioural conditionality' - policies whereby entitlement to benefits is made conditional upon the 'active job-seeking' or 'work-preparation' efforts of claimants. Controversially, failure to participate or to meet the requirements of such programmes can result in harsh and potentially lengthy benefit sanctions. As a support worker I frequently found myself on the other side of the desk, helping people to negotiate their encounters with a rapidly changing benefit system. This fellowship builds on my PhD research, which returned to these street-level spaces to study everyday encounters between benefit claimants and the street-level bureaucrats who monitor their claim. In doing this research I was interested in producing empirically grounded knowledge of how policies of 'activation' and 'conditionality' are implemented, and the rigorous analysis of what such policies mean to people in practice. As such my work seeks to understand - conceptually and empirically - the street-level dynamics and outcomes of ongoing welfare reform and their normative and ethical basis. It also seeks to provide policy-makers, practitioners, and the wider public with the knowledge necessary to understand this changing policy field. During this fellowship I will consolidate my existing research on this topic, making its findings available to academics but also to the policy-makers, practitioners, and the wider public.With its focus on implementation and practice, my research provides crucial insights for policy makers and practitioners. During the fellowship I will be working alongside key policy stakeholders to influence future policy development and service design. In Sheffield I will work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, to provide evidence-based analysis of frontline practice. I will convene a series of workshops making the insights of street-level policy analysis available to those responsible for shaping policy. In Scotland newly devolved powers over some areas of welfare policy provide a unique opportunity to directly impact policy design and practice. Working the Social Security Agency in Scotland I will build on insights from my research, and develop a practical toolkit for use is the development of employment services. Through these activities the fellowship aims to have a concrete impact on welfare policy and services, based on robust evidence, expertise, and street-level analysis.