What's Wrong with Social Security Benefits?

In this thought-provoking book, Paul Spicker challenges us to rethink social security benefits. Focusing on the UK system, he puts forward a case for reform, arguing that most of the criticisms made of social security benefits—that spending is out of control, that it has led to mushrooming dependency, that it fails to get people into work, and that the system is riddled with fraud—are ill-conceived. Addressing these misconceptions, Spicker assesses the real problems with the system, problems that derive from its size, its complexity, the expectation that benefits agencies should know everything, and the determination to personalize benefits for millions of people. But more than this, Spicker’s stimulating introduction to social security in Britain outlines the potential for its reform.