Example social policy dissertation topic 1:

Coupons for care: An analysis of Coalition proposals for reforming welfare payments.

The announcement in October 2012 by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, that troublesome families might receive their benefits payments in a form of coupon (smart cards) so as to ensure that benefits are not ‘misspent’ on ‘non-priority items’ represents a radical intervention in social policy by the state. It suggests that no longer is central government prepared merely to hand out payments to those who need them but also to direct them as to how such moneys will be spent. Focusing on the reactions of a range of actors – from policy directors, to those who work with vulnerable children (who are often the innocent victims of misspent welfare benefits) and benefits claimants themselves – this is a cutting edge dissertation that seeks to analyse and evaluate the potential effects of this change in government thinking.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Billings, P. (2011). ‘Conditioning social welfare payments: Securing liberty for vulnerable children and adults?’, Indigenous Law Bulletin, Vol. 7(22), pp. 13-17.
• Hope, C. (2012). ‘120,000 troubled families could be legally banned from spending benefits on alcohol and tobacco’, The Daily Telegraph, 13th October 2012.
• MacLaren, D., Redman-MacLaren, M. and Clough, A. (2010). ‘Estimating tobacco consumption in remote Aboriginal communities using retail sales data: Some challenges and opportunities’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol. 34, pp. S66-S70.