All Our Welfare: Towards Participatory Social Policy - Softcover

Peter Beresford, OBE, is professor of social policy and director of the Centre for Citizen Participation at Brunel University London. He is coauthor of Supporting People: Towards a Person-Centred Approach and the editor of Personalisation, both published by Policy Press.

“Welfare reform doesn’t need to mean cuts and privatization. As this crucial book demonstrates, a dynamic, participatory system is an alternative to both the market and top-down bureaucracies. A much-needed contribution.” (Owen Jones, author and Guardian columnist)

“This book does not duck the complexities of the history of the welfare state and its current forms. It interleaves formal analyses with personal testimony to great effect. A wonderful trip down memory lane for me! Beresford’s proposed alternative—where those receiving the range of collective services are final arbiters over the forms they take—is well researched and refreshing.” (Diana Rose, King’s College London Times Higher Education)

“All Our Welfare is a thought-provoking book that offers a timely challenge to much contemporary academic social policy. . . . It is enriched by the author’s personal experience.” (Ashwin Desai, NBC Universal LSE Review of Books)

“An imaginative, challenging, and valuable rethink of the welfare state, with a unique bottom-up focus from the perspective and interests of the people it was created to serve.” (Peter Tatchell, director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation)

“An incisive, compelling, and highly personal case for a more democratic and participative social policy which fills the user perspective gap left by many others.” (Alan Walker, University of Sheffield)

“Beresford details how the current welfare system has been subject to ‘sustained ideological and political attack.’ The present direction of travel, he argues, is especially disconcerting and here he challenges conventional wisdom and in turn subjects the dominant narrative to critical inquiry. He puts forward a very convincing alternative, based on democracy and service-user participation.” (Sean Creaney, PhD candidate in criminology at Liverpool John Moores University Times Higher Education)

“A remarkable work that highlights the past, present, and possible future welfare state from a ‘participatory perspective’ and offers the reader the opportunity to consider a future welfare state that actually includes user involvement in developing social policy.” (Mo Stewart, disability studies researcher)

“All Our Welfare deftly weaves together history, policy, and personal experiences to examine the pasts and possible futures of welfare in Britain. This timely and moving book is an important reminder that what welfare is really about is ‘how we look after each other in society.’” (Imogen Tyler, Lancaster University)

“Beresford is one of our best and most trenchant critics of the impact of neoliberal policies on social work services, service users, and welfare provision more generally. This stimulating and important book deserves to be read widely.” (Michael Lavalette, Liverpool Hope University)

"This book has already established itself in contributing not only to how we think about social policy, but to how we think about our relationships with users and therefore the constructs we develop to humanize our services." (Change Agents blog)