ROBERT SYKES is Principal Lecturer in Social Policy at Sheffield Hallam University. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the British Social Policy Association and convenes its comparative social policy study group.BRUNO PALIER is Chargé de Recherches at CNRS, in the Centre d'études de la vie politique française (CEVIPOF), Paris. He is a member of the Management Committee of Cost A15, 'reforming the welfare system in Europe'.PAULINE PRIOR is Lecturer in Social Policy at The Queen's University of Belfast. She has a background in practice and management within social services in Northern Ireland and she is the author of Gender and Mental Health (Palgrave 1999).