Suchergebnisse

This article contributes to the literature on engaging employers in activation policies. It focuses on a specific policy aimed at promoting the labour-market participation of people with disabilities. Unlike many activation policies, this policy recognises that the engagement of employers and the human resource management practices in their organisations are crucial factors for the policy's success. The article reports on a study among employers participating in this policy. It focuses on the challenges employers experience in placing people with disabilities in their organisations, and on the public support they expect in dealing with these challenges. The article concludes that as promoting the labour-market participation of groups remote from the labour market requires social policy interventions as well as interventions in organisational human resource management, it poses challenges for policy makers, agencies providing employment services, and employers and their organisations.

AbstractThis article looks at how welfare conditionality is delivered at the street level. It argues that the street‐level delivery of welfare conditionality is structured by policies, the governance context in which workers deliver welfare conditionality, the organization in which they work, and the occupation they are part of. Characteristics of these contexts present street‐level workers with a variety of signals and incentives that direct their decision making. The article elaborates on this proposition on the basis of a review of academic studies analysing the street‐level delivery of various aspects of welfare conditionality: the use of sanctions, service personalization, and the treatment of vulnerable clients. The review shows that context characteristics together have a significant impact on the street‐level transformation of welfare conditionality policies into practices. Street‐level decision making concerning the use of sanctions is far more complex than can be captured by a perspective on street‐level workers as merely policy implementers. Sanctioning practices are sometimes harsher, sometimes more lenient than policies lead us to expect. The "soft" side of welfare conditionality—represented by service personalization—is often under pressure at the street level, potentially strengthening welfare conditionality's tough side. This affects vulnerable jobseekers most: Street‐level studies show that the balance between disciplining and enabling aspects of welfare‐to‐work is most at risk for more vulnerable groups. The article concludes that the contextual pressures street‐level workers have to deal with in their daily work hardly reflect the "delicate equilibrium" that they need to deliver welfare conditionality in a professional, responsive, and responsible way.

AbstractThis article analyzes the delivery of activation or welfare‐to‐work programmes and services in the context of quasi‐market service provision. It adopts a frontline perspective, looking in particular into two issues often discussed in the literature on quasi‐markets: risk selection in provider agencies and the administrative costs and burden related to monitoring provider agencies and agents. Data from a Dutch study of frontline workers in purchaser and provider agencies is presented to analyze frontline practices of risk selection and monitoring. The article concludes that interpreting provider behaviour in terms of risk selection may not be as straightforward as it seems, and that the widespread occurrence of risk selection processes throughout service provision chains makes it rather difficult to attribute risk selection unequivocally to rational provider behaviour. The monitoring process is experienced as an administrative burden, especially by workers in provider agencies, but it also has elements which workers consider as making a positive contribution to service provision processes in circumstances where actions of purchasers and providers need to be coordinated. This is partly related to the double function of monitoring in the context of activation policies in quasi‐market contexts: monitoring provider behaviour as well as monitoring client behaviour.

The current emphasis in European welfare states on 'activation' increases the relevance of insight into social assistance dynamics and work–welfare/welfare–work transitions. This article reports on a study that explored the employment, unemployment and social assistance careers of a large group of people who managed to become independent from social assistance by finding a job. Using the databases of social security agencies in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, it investigates the sustainability of social assistance independence and labour market inclusion, and identifies groups that are more or less likely to be confronted with spells of renewed social assistance dependency or unemployment.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to make a preliminary assessment of the impacts of the decentralisation of Dutch social assistance.Design/methodology/approachEven though decentralisation is often promoted as a new governance instrument, balancing centralised and decentralised aspects has been a feature of Social Assistance systems for a long time. This article describes how processes of decentralisation in Dutch Social Assistance in the context of activating the Dutch welfare state are determined by two core objectives: on the one hand, to give local authorities more autonomy in designing and delivering activation services; on the other hand, to ensure that national social policy objectives are implemented at the local level. Specific attention is paid to the most recent decentralisation development which made municipalities financially responsible for social assistance expenditure. Building on the results of some preliminary evaluation and effect studies, this article assesses the impact of decentralisation.FindingsThe findings show that decentralising financial responsibility has had a clear impact on local policies: preventing social assistance dependency and promoting social assistance exit have become major concerns of many Dutch municipalities.Research limitations/implicationsAs the latest decentralisation reform is recent, research results are preliminary at this stage. Future evaluation research should focus on a broader set of success criteria than the reduction of social assistance expenditure only.Practical implicationsThe article discusses some fundamental issues often neglected by those advocating decentralisation: how do local social policies influence labour‐market developments? To what degree does inter‐municipal variation reflect different local needs? What is the impact of decentralisation on equality and equal treatment? Decentralisation may be necessary in order to make social services more effective and tailor made, but it certainly is not free from risks.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the debate on the risks and opportunities of decentralisation of social assistance on the basis of empirical evidence and practical experiences.

PurposeThis article aims to discuss the individualisation trend in the provision of social services, focusing on activation services specifically.Design/methodology/approachThe individualisation trend in the provision of activation services is analysed against the background of public sector as well as social sector as well as social policy reforms: the introduction of new modes of governance and the rise of the active welfare state respectively.FindingsConcrete manifestations of individualised service provision are often based on various interpretations of individualisation and reflect different meanings of citizens' participation, and refer to different modes – or rather, mixes of different modes – of governance. The general argument of the article is illustrated and elaborated by analysing three national case studies of individualised service provision in the context of activation: the UK, The Netherlands and Finland.Originality/valueThe trend that is analysed in the article – individualised service provision – is very clearly present in welfare state reforms, but has thus far not received much attention in academic literature.

PurposeThe first part of the paper aimed to interpret the changes addressed by the concepts of governance and activation in their context, in order to grasp the larger picture of the societal transformation underlying them: the starting point is the assumption that new modes of governance in activation policies are a fruitful entry point for effectively understanding deep waves of change of contemporary society. The second part aims to briefly introduce the papers included in this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe paper insists on a perspective according to which there are two main dimension characterising the context of addressed transformations: the paradoxical torsion of the historical process of individualisation in the new spirit of capitalism; the profound redesign of the institutional programme, implying a new horizon for the instances of publicness.FindingsDifferent and contradictory trends are pointed out in the actual pursuing of objectives of governance and activation, as far as the process of individualisation and the redesign of publicness are concerned. The impossibility of finding an abstract and universal evaluation of these transformations and the necessity of situated empirical inquiries are stressed.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates the relevance of deepening the normative underlying dimensions (with regard to individualisation and publicness) of social processes for a better understanding of concrete transformations (specifically: operational and substantive changes introduced by new modes of governance in activation policies).

PurposeThis editorial aims to introduce the first of a set of two special issues on New modes of governance in activation policies.Design/methodology/approachThe article explores the concept of governance, distinguishing a broad and more narrow use of the concept. Then, it argues that issues of governance should be an integral part of studies of welfare state transformations. Not in the last instance, because governance reforms do have an impact on the content of social policies and social services such as activation. The article continues by discussing three models of the provision of social services.FindingsThe article states that the development of the modes of governance in activation in various countries reveals that a mix of service provision models is being used.Originality/valueThe article introduces the articles of the special issue.

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to analyse the diversity of markets for the provision of activation services.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on the outcomes of a project involving nine European countries. The project investigated changing forms of governance of income protection schemes and activation services for unemployed people. Diversity is investigated by focusing on five dimensions of diversity derived from the quasi‐market concept as developed by Le Grand: the purchasers, the providers, the customers, the purchaser‐provider split and the purchaser‐customer split.FindingsThe paper finds considerable diversity in the design of markets for the provision of activation. Diversity is visible in all dimensions involved in the analysis. One interesting finding is that a full split between purchasers and providers hardly exists, although some countries have introduced a stricter split than others. Another finding concerns the voice and choice of service consumers, which seems hardly affected by the introduction of market mechanisms in the provision of activation. Finally, marketisation does not seem to be an irreversible project, as de‐marketisation processes were identified as well.Originality/valueMost current research into activation markets and their effects pays little attention to the issue of diversity in the design and functioning of markets. This article argues in favour of more systematic research of market diversity and of the variety of effects of various market models. Rather than comparing marketised with public service provision, a stronger focus on various market models may strengthen our insight into how service provision models affect the effectiveness of activation services.

PurposeThe purpose of this introduction to the special issue is to give an overview of the key aspects of the governance of activation policies as discussed in the existing literature. It explains the focus and contribution of this special issue and provides a brief summary of the main findings in the individual articles.Design/methodology/approachIn this special issue the comparative analysis of the key aspects of governance of activation policies like centralization/decentralization, new public management, marketization and network governance is covered, accompanied by an assessment of the role of implementation conditions in shaping the real trends of governance reforms of activation policies. Further, the effects of governance reforms and the influence of EU governance on the dynamics of national activation policies are discussed. This comparative analysis leads to a typology of the "worlds of governance" of activation policies in Europe.FindingsAll the countries show certain comparable converging trends in the reforms of governance of activation, although a closer look helps us determine the shape of increasingly different patterns of governance in several respects. In spite of this variety, another general finding is the common discrepancy between aims and effects: the key explanation involves implementation failures. Three governance regimes may be distinguished in the EU countries: committed marketizers, modernizers and slow modernizers.Originality/valueThis paper suggests a new typology of governance regimes.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures and tables -- List of contributors -- Acknowledgements -- European Citizenship and Social Exclusion. An Introduction -- I. Restructuring Citizenship in the European Union -- 1. Citizenship and Exclusion: Reconstructing the European Union -- 2. Citizenship and Social Inclusion in the European Union -- 3. The Development of European Union Citizenship. A Critical Evaluation -- II. Economic Exclusion and Citizenship: Work and Income in Europe -- 4. Work and Citizenship in Europe -- 5. The Crisis of Economic Citizenship in the EU. Lean Production and the German Model -- 6. Social Integration and Labour-Market Marginalization. The Scandinavian Experience -- 7. The Informal Sector in the European Union. Mitigating or Reinforcing Economic Exclusion? -- 8. Employment and Social Identity. Theoretical Issues -- 9. Social Policy, Social Exclusion and Citizenship in the European Union. The Right to be Unequal? -- III. Social and Economic Exclusion and Citizenship: Social Policy in Europe -- 10. Restructuring Social Rights in the EU. Does a Flexible Employment and Benefits Regime Entrench Exclusion and Inequality? -- 11. The Welfare Society and the Welfare State. The Portuguese Experience -- 12. Urban Integration and Citizenship. Local Policies and the Promotion of Participation -- IV. Socio-cultural Exclusion and Citizenship: Identity and Immigration in Europe -- 13. European Union Identity and Citizenship. Some Challenges -- 14. Immigration, Citizenship and Nationalism. Internal Internationalization in Germany and Europe -- 15. Citizenship and Social Exclusion in the European Union -- 16. Anti-racism, Multiculturalism and Struggles for a Multicultural Democracy -- 17. Citizenship, Association and Immigration. Theoretical Issues -- Bibliography

AbstractCaseloads and performance management are important working conditions of workers delivering public social services in street‐level organizations. The literature on these working conditions argues that high caseloads and performance management have considerable consequences for workers' performance in terms of the quality of services they provide and the results they realize. This article empirically investigates and compares these consequences, drawing on the results of a quantitative study of frontline workers in 14 local welfare agencies in the Netherlands. These workers are responsible for the delivery of welfare‐to‐work policies to social assistance recipients. The findings show that high caseloads do, indeed, have a detrimental effect on workers' performance, whereas the impact of performance management is more modest, though confirming some of the findings reported in other studies on performance management. The results also show that by focusing service provision on a proportion of their caseload, workers are able to reduce the negative impact of high caseloads somewhat. Overall, the article finds that the negative impact of high caseloads is more pervasive than that of performance management. The article concludes that the recent focus in the literature on performance management and its consequences for public services should not turn scholars' attention away from the 'traditional' public administration problem of high caseload sizes.

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to assess the emergence of New Public Management in the governance of activation policies in nine European countries. In the light of considerable diversity in the implementation of New Public Management in the different countries, the article tries to identify common patterns.Design/methodology/approachFor the identification of patterns, fuzzy set theory is applied. Fuzzy sets are used to define ideal types and to measure the degree of membership in the different ideal types for every country.FindingsIt is possible to show that despite the substantial diversity of New Public Management approaches in the governance of activation policies, common patterns exist. The article identifies four ideal types of New Public Management within the nine countries involved in the analysis. At the same time it is shown that most countries do not represent pure models but unify different tendencies within one dominant type.Originality/valueThe identification of common patterns in the emergence of New Public Management in the governance of activation can provide a useful framework for discussion and further research on the implications of different forms of governance on the content and delivery of activation services in Europe.