Benefits conditionality in the United Kingdom: is it common, and is it perceived to be reasonable?

Ben Baumberg Geiger, Lisa Scullion, Daniel Edmiston, Robert de Vries, Kate Summers, Jo Ingold and David Young

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Programme‐level data suggest that increasing numbers of claimants are subject to work‐related behavioural requirements in countries like the United Kingdom. Likewise, academic qualitative research has suggested that conditionality is pervasive within the benefits system, and is often felt to be unreasonable. However, there is little quantitative evidence on the extent or experience of conditionality from claimants' perspectives. We fill this gap by drawing on a purpose‐collected survey of UK benefit claimants (n = 3801). We find that the stated application of conditionality was evident for a surprisingly small proportion of survey participants—even lower than programme‐level data suggest. Unreasonable conditionality was perceived by many of those subject to conditionality, but not a majority, with, for example, 26.2% believing that work coaches do not fully take health/care‐related barriers into account. Yet, alongside this, a substantial minority of claimants not currently subject to conditionality (22.4%) report that conditionality has negatively affected their mental health. We argue that reconciling this complex set of evidence requires a more nuanced understanding of conditionality, which is sensitive to methodological assumptions, the role of time and implementation and the need to go beyond explicit requirements to consider implicit forms of conditionality. In conclusion, we recommend a deeper mixed‐methods agenda for conditionality research.

Keywords: conditionality; benefits; social protection; welfare; inequalities; sanctions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 H53 I38 J68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2025-02-06
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Published in Social Policy and Administration, 6, February, 2025. ISSN: 0144-5596

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