Social and Public Policy - Policy and Practice

This report is the first to examine attitudes towards flexible working and family life. Drawing on a study of over 1500 members of the AEEU and interviews with 53 shop stewards, the report addresses key questions around rights and benefits, employer's attitudes, gender differences and the effects of flexible working on health and well-being.

This report demonstrates the urgent need to re-evaluate our understanding of poverty and home ownership. Drawing on data from the Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey of Britain, it presents a detailed picture of the realities of home ownership at the margins, providing evidence in support of radical policy for sustainable home ownership.

This report takes a critical look at the costs and benefits for individuals and families of turning to self-employment as a route out of economic disadvantage.

Using new EU-wide data, this report shows very different patterns of poverty across Europe, depending on the benchmark used. The findings have important implications for the spatial distribution of poverty within and between countries (including the UK) and for the development of anti-poverty policy across the EU.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Written by a leading expert in the field, this practical and accessible book is an essential guide to knowledge exchange, impact and research dissemination in health and social care.

Drawing on students’ experiences of structural racism in the UK higher education institutions, this book offers an informed analysis on the barriers to Black student progression. It documents success stories and provides key recommendations for the sector on how to eliminate discrimination and achieve positive results for Black students.

Any attempt by governments to stem the tide of early retirement will need to focus as much on employers' management of human resources as on the impacts of social policy. This report focuses on this previously neglected area: employers' policies and practice as a dynamic force in retirement decisions.

In the UK there is increasing acceptance that credit unions have an important role to play in providing affordable credit to all sections of society. This study identifies current patterns of credit union development, quantifies their performance and isolates factors which make some more successful than others. Free PDF available at www.jrf.org.uk

Two strategies that governments have to help people on low incomes - providing them with financial support directly, and encouraging them to earn more - generally conflict. This report provides new evidence on the trade-off between redistributing income and improving work incentives.

FREE PDF version available online at www.jrf.org.uk

The welfare of ethnic minority individuals in Britain depends critically on how they fare in the labour market. This report provides a detailed empirical analysis of labour market outcomes and explores how ethnically diverse these outcomes are and how they have changed over time.

A free pdf version is available at www.jrf.org.uk

Although South Asian women are one of the most socially excluded groups in the UK, their numbers at university have increased rapidly in recent years. This report seeks to understand why they are entering university in larger numbers and the impact this has on their lives.

Rising concerns about a 'problematic street culture' associated with rough sleeping, especially begging and street drinking, have seen a major shift towards enforcement interventions aimed at the 'street users'. This report examines the impact of these interventions on the welfare of street users.

A free pdf version is available at www.jrf.org.uk