Debbie Jolly

Cultures of welfare at the front line: implementing direct payments for disabled people in the UK

Direct payments are central to UK independent living and welfare modernisation agendas, however, little is known about the local cultures of welfare within which they are implemented. This article uses eight case studies of devolved governance within local authorities and trusts to explore the dynamics of implementation cultures at the front line. While national and local policies are clearly important, so too are political cultures, commissioning practices and interrelationships between key stakeholders. While local authorities have enjoyed considerable discretion and autonomy in this area, the article concludes that greater harmonisation may be required in the interests of social justice.

The Government of Disability: Economics and power in welfare and work

The term government of disability refers to the ways that the lived experiences of people with accredited impairments are contextualised by economics and power in welfare and work. This paper explores how far a multiple perspective that develops a framework of the government of disability and the ontological ambiguity of impairment can take us towards contemporary understandings of disability, impairment and change in the UK. The term the ontological ambiguity of impairment describes the ways that understandings of impairment have become more ambiguous, contributing to greater insecurities and fragmentation because of key changes in the government of disability. However, I argue that wider explanations of economic and power relationships are also necessary to develop a critical perspective of the contemporary government of disability, economics, and power in welfare and work.