Social policy scholars with an interest in welfare reform face a shifting context as each year brings fresh announcements of further measures designed to finally rid Britain of its supposed ‘problem’ of ‘welfare dependency’ (cf. Osborne, 2013b; Duncan Smith, 2014d). The year in which this book was written – 2016 – has been a particularly eventful one for the UK. The architect of the post-2010 welfare reforms, Iain Duncan Smith, unexpectedly resigned as Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions in protest at plans announced in the 2016 budget (and then just as quickly withdrawn) to reduce entitlement for the disability benefit, Personal Independence Payments. 2016 has also seen a ratcheting up of efforts to roll out the much-delayed Universal Credit, alongside the introduction of in-work conditionality for those working fewer than the equivalent of 35 hours per week at the National Minimum Wage (see Chapter Two). Most significantly, Cameron and Osborne's tenure as Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, respectively, came to an end following the UK's vote to leave the EU in June. With Theresa May newly installed at 10 Downing Street, it will be critical to observe what – if any – changes are made to the Conservatives’ approach to and rhetoric on ‘welfare’ in the coming months and years.

This chapter reports on interviews conducted with nine participants in 2016. These provided a longer view of welfare reform experiences over the five years from 2011 to 2016. What was the cumulative impact of welfare reform for these individuals? How did their relationships with benefits and paid employment evolve over time? Did they manage to achieve the aspirations they had expressed earlier? What triggered or prevented the realisation of positive change in their lives? Through exploring these questions, this chapter highlights key trajectories, discernible patterns and dominant themes emerging from the interviews. A brief summary of the methodological approach is followed by an overview of individuals’ relationship with work and benefits over time, examined through individual case studies. Central themes from this fourth wave of interviews are then summarised.

Returning for a fourth time

Nine participants from the longitudinal sample were interviewed for a fourth time in the summer of 2016. Short interviews were also conducted with six of those participating in the ‘Dole Animators’ project in 2015 and, where relevant, data from these interviews features in the following discussion.