The decades of disruption: New social risks and the future of the welfare state

Article

A number of major disruptive forces will transform life in the UK and globally in the 2020s and beyond, creating a new set of social risks.

In the Covid-19 crisis, government financial assistance has been the decisive factor in protecting businesses and livelihoods, but it has fallen short. We can learn from the response to this crisis to create the stronger welfare settlement we will need to tackle new social risks and prevent inequality from growing.

The economic shock resulting from the pandemic follows a ‘great risk shift’ experienced by people in the UK over recent decades. It is clear that we need to ‘future-proof’ our welfare state, but historically, welfare states in the UK and across Europe have remained ‘frozen’ in the face of new social risks. It is for this reason that IPPR is launching a major new Future Welfare State Programme.

Related items

  1. The sign for the Ministry of Defence by the building's main entrance

    Joining forces: A better strategy for defence spending with allies

    Andy Burnham has made the case that national security and rebuilding Britain’s hard power will be priorities for his government. 
  2. Adults standing in a circle and talking to each other about their mental wellbeing. There is a staff member sitting to the left of them in the frame sitting next to a table. The community centre is located in Seaton Deleval in the North East of England.

    What is the left for?: The case for a politics of reciprocism

    Liberal democratic capitalism has failed to give many people good lives, and the future looks less promising than the past. 

  3. Wildfires and climate change | Dave Hawkey from IPPR Scotland speaks to Lewis Goodall on LBC

    Europe’s heatwaves and the wildfires in the Cairngorms are a stark reminder that climate extremes are here.  The Scottish government must act now with a clear plan to prepare for what's coming.