Description
Book SynopsisPoverty in modern-day Britain looks different to the form it took in Beveridge’s day but it has not disappeared. For 14 million people across the UK the lack of access to the goods and services necessary to live a decent life and to participate fully in society remains a grim reality. Despite rising standards of living, social and economic structures continue to trap those at the bottom in constant job insecurity, ill-health, overcrowded housing and educational disadvantage. Helen Barnard considers what it might take to finally slay the giant of poverty in Britain. She examines how we might build a fairer, more equal society, and what a modern welfare state should aim to achieve, including an honest appraisal of the trade-offs and choices involved in creating it.
Trade ReviewA tour d’horizon of social injustice in Britain today – and a twenty-first-century manifesto for rooting it out. At every turn, she presses not only the question of what substantively will have to be done to slay the giant of 'want', but asks how can we foster the political conversation that is a prerequisite for getting it done. Her demand for meaningful public deliberation, not least with those who are on the wrong end of anachronistic top-down services, is an urgent one – not only for social policy, but for the wider health of our democracy too.
-- Tom Clark, Contributing Editor, Prospect, and author of Hard Times: Inequality, Recession, Aftermath
At times painful, but also painfully needed, this updating of Beveridge shines a light on what poverty looks like in twenty-first-century Britain. Barnard encourages us to ask what we want for the UK’s future, and rightly suggests it is not just more of the status quo.
-- Torsten Bell, Resolution Foundation
A clear, perceptive and timely discussion of poverty in the UK that for all its authority never loses sight of a key question: how did we, as a society that prides itself on being compassionate and just, get here?
-- Patrick Butler, Social Policy Editor, The Guardian
Helen Barnard distills all her extensive expertise on modern poverty into this book – the result is a vital primer for anyone thinking of having an opinion on this subject.
-- Ben Chu, Economics Editor, Newsnight
Helen Barnard is consistently one of the most interesting thinkers on social policy in Britain, even when – or perhaps especially when – you disagree with her.
-- Robert Colvile, Centre for Policy Studies
This is a fascinating and carefully researched book, written with Helen Barnard’s trademark friendly style and warmth. She examines the challenges of finding a new path after Covid with the same motivation and ambition that must have powered the original Beveridge Report. Best of all, it’s a book that’s full of possible solutions, written with optimism and a real sense of hope.
-- Felicity Hannah, award-winning independent journalist
A thoroughly-evidenced, sensitively-reported and utterly terrifying anatomy of the collapse of our welfare state. A vital study for this moment as the UK’s safety net appears to be in maximum danger.
-- Anoosh Chakelian, Britain Editor, New Statesman
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Defining decency
2. Hard pressed families
3. Disabled people and carers
4. Renting pensioners
5. Young, Black and held back
6. Stigma and shame or dignity and respect?
7. Equality and discrimination
8. What is social security for?
9. Public services for the digital age
10. Reimagining work
11. Managing modern markets
12. Tax, wealth and housing
Conclusion
