Böcker utgivna av Policy Press

We are all approaching retirement but what should we expect? For some, it is a happy prospect. Others approach retirement knowing they face hardship and social exclusion. Amid alarming predictions of a 'demographic time bomb', governments and the private pensions industry urge everyone to plan and save now, but admit that there are risks. But will the pension funds deliver on their promises? Will the rich increasingly retire early but the poor work for longer? How reliable are state pension schemes? Do the USA, Sweden, or Australia have a 'better' approach to retirement pensions than the UK? Approaching retirement tackles these and many other questions from a number of sociological perspectives. Using the idea of the social division of welfare as a template, different approaches to retirement pensions policy are assessed and their strengths and weaknesses clearly presented. This book will be an invaluable resource for social science students at all levels and for those who teach them. Economists and pension practitioners will also find food for thought here.

This book examines key philosophical, ethical, legal and professional practice issues in the area of privacy and confidentiality and explores their implications for policy and practice.

Full of up-to-date case studies, practice examples and points for reflection, this exciting textbook explores theoretical frameworks for working with people with learning difficulties.

This book analyses the specific ways in which family lives have changed and how they have been affected by the major structural and cultural changes of the second half of the twentieth century.

Based on extensive research on primary sources and interviews, this book explores the changing perceptions of the needs of elderly people. It considers the extent to which they have been a priority for resources and looks at the possibilities of policy that combines respect for elderly people with an avoidance of the exploitation of relatives.

This book provides a review of the findings of the largest ever programme of cities research in the UK, the 'Cities: Competitiveness and Cohesion programme'. Leading experts present the findings of this wide-ranging programme organised around themes of competitiveness, social cohesion and the role of policy and governance.

The Government has embarked on a programme of radical reform for the probation and prison services with the setting up of a National Offender Management Service (NOMS). This groundbreaking volume takes a critical look at the different aspects of the NOMS proposals, at a time when the Government is still working out the detail of its reforms.

Britain's New Labour government claims to support the cause of human rights. At the same time, it claims that we can have no rights without responsibility and that dependency on the state is irresponsible. The ethics of welfare offers a critique of this paradox and discusses the ethical conundrum it implies for the future of social welfare.

It is widely assumed today that the 'welfare state' is contracting or retrenching as an effect of the close scrutiny to which entitlement to social security benefits is being subject in most developed countries. In this book, fifteen authorities from nine different countries investigate to what extent this assumption is warranted.

Childhood poverty and social exclusion offers a rare and valuable opportunity to understand the issues and concerns that low-income children themselves identify as important. Using child-centred research methods to explore children's own accounts of their lives, this original book raises critical issues for both policy and practice.

The current economic crisis with its gloomy implications for lost generations leaves many disadvantaged young people with ever-diminishing opportunities. The Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme (YEPP) is a fully evaluated on-going international programme focused on disadvantaged areas in eight European countries. It aims to empower young people and the communities in which they live by making them central to new decisionmaking processes involving partnerships between public, private and independent sectors. This book provides the theoretical context for the programme, gives a full account of the process and outcomes of over 10 years of joint effort in its unique development and research process and reflects on the lessons learnt for future policy. It will appeal to practitioners, researchers, policy-makers and decision-makers in foundations.

The turn to biographical methods in social science is invigorating the relationship between policy and practice. This book shows how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the development of professionals, and promote more meaningful practitioner - service user relationships.

Important reforms are taking place in children's services in the UK, with a move towards greater integration. In England, Scotland and Sweden, early childhood education and care, childcare for older children, and schools are now the responsibility of education departments. This book is the first to examine this major shift in policy.

Until now little published work has focused on how horticulture and gardening can help to promote social inclusion for vulnerable groups. This guide looks at the ways in which social and therapeutic horticulture projects can help foster independence, build self esteem and provide training and employment opportunities for vulnerable groups.

This book makes a significant contribution to debates about how people with learning difficulties may achieve social inclusion, and the part which lifelong learning may play in this. Its exploration of the links between community care, education, training, employment, housing and benefits policies in the context of lifelong learning is unique.

The study, when published in 2002, received coverage across the globe from Brazil to Greece and attracted the support of the then High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. Anyone interested in understanding, campaigning or simply debating the issues facing policy makers today will find this book a rich and compelling resource.

This book challenges the underlying presupposition that regular employment is the royal road to inclusion. Drawing on original empirical research, it investigates the inclusionary and exclusionary potentials of different types of work, including activation programmes.

This book provides an essential introduction to the key concepts, issues, policies and practices affecting child welfare, with particular emphasis on the changing nature of relationships between child welfare and social policy. No other book brings together such a wide selection of material to form an indispensable teaching and learning resource.

This is the first in-depth study of children and young people caring for parents affected by severe and enduring mental illness. Drawing on primary research data collected from 40 families, the book presents the perspectives of children (young carers), their parents and the key professionals in contact with them.

Throughout Europe, standardised approaches to social policy and practice are being radically questioned and modified. Beginning from the narrative detail of individual lives, this book re-thinks welfare predicaments, emphasising gender, generation, ethnic and class implications of economic and social deregulation.

This classic text provides the first comprehensive examination of the social policy of New Labour. It compares and contrasts current policy areas with both the Old Left and the New Right and applies the concept of the 'third way' to both individual policy areas and broader cross-cutting themes.

This book is an invaluable resource, employing a 'bottom-up' approach to learning. It presents vivid examples of social work practice with children and families and real life illustrations of the challenges facing practitioners. With analysis of each section, it provides essential guidance for students and sets standards for training and practice.

This book explores the complex relationship between family change and public policy responses in EU member states and candidate countries. It combines broad-brush scrutiny of demographic trends, policy contexts and debates in contemporary European societies with a fine-grain analysis of the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of families.

This ground-breaking study provides important new insights into the dynamics of Britain's social and economic life. A total of 10,000 adults (from 5,500 households) were interviewed every year between 1991 and 1997, providing a unique picture of the processes and outcomes of important events in their lives.

The principle of service user involvement in decisions that affect them directly is now generally supported, but many voluntary organisations remain under scrutiny because of slow implementation. This report explores the processes of change in eleven voluntary organisations to draw out lessons relevant to the wider sector.

This groundbreaking book investigates and documents corporate influence on social policies at global/regional, national and local levels. It argues that we cannot understand the recent history and present direction of the welfare state unless we focus on the role that business has played in its development.

This revised edition includes a new foreword and an updated introduction and conclusion providing insights into the key issues. The book's contributors are all leading experts in their fields, and have studied the extent of child poverty, its consequences for children and the effectiveness of policies of prevention.

This second volume discusses both the meaning of the Learning Society for adults with learning difficulties, and use of social capital to explain patterns of lifelong learning. It presents five different 'trajectories' of lifelong learning, explores determinants of participation and non-participation in learning, and innovation in Higher Education.

This book provides an overview of key social issues set in the context of housing. From minority ethnic housing needs to the housing implications of domestic violence, this broad-ranging study shows how difference is regulated and deploys a distinctive theoretical perspective applicable to other aspects of welfare.

Can and should asset-based policies become a new pillar of the welfare state? Can they form the basis for a more egalitarian form of market economy? The citizen's stake throws open the debate by bringing together the ideas of leading thinkers in academia and policy to explore the future scope of asset-based policies in Britain.