Project Director: Rob Macmillan
Project Duration: 2017-2019

The publication of the Beveridge Report in 1942, and the subsequent establishment of comprehensive welfare services in the UK, was referred to as ‘a revolutionary moment’. The same term has been used to describe the context in which welfare services have been and are still being significantly reshaped since 2010. At these two transformational moments, fundamental questions have been raised about who is responsible for the provision of welfare services. The project study will explore the debates that have taken place on the role, position and contribution of voluntary action in the provision of welfare in the 1940s and 2010s. It will compare and contrast public, political and voluntary sector discourses. The research will contribute to new understandings of voluntary action and to practical action for third sector organisations and policy makers.

For further information about this project please see the project website.

An open-access book has been published by Policy Press for this project called, ‘Transformational moments in social welfare: What role for voluntary action?’ and is now available to download as an e-copy for free.

The project team is led by Professor Irene Hardill (Northumbria University) and also includes Dr Georgina Brewis (University College London), Dr Angela Ellis Paine (University of Birmingham) and Dr Rose Lindsay (University of Southampton).