Making social policy work

John Hills (1954-2020) was Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy and Co-Director of the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics. He wrote extensively on inequality, public policy and the welfare state. He was a member of the Pensions Commission and Chair of the National Equality Panel for the Labour government and led a review of the measurement of fuel poverty for the Coalition government. He was knighted in 2013 for services to the development of social policy.Julian Le Grand is the Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. From 2003 to 2005, he was Senior Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street. David Piachaud is Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science and an associate of CASE. He was Social Policy Adviser in the Prime Minister's Policy Unit (1974-79) and has been consultant to the European Commission, International Labour Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Health Organization.

• Introduction ~ John Hills, Julian Le Grand and David Piachaud; Part One: The aims of social policy: Principles, Poor Laws and welfare states ~ Jose Harris; Welfare: what for? ~ Tania Burchardt; Part Two: Delivering social policy: Families, individuals and the state ~ Jane Lewis; Schools, financing and educational standards ~ Anne West; Financing higher education: tax, graduate tax or loans? ~ Nicholas Barr; Quasi-markets in healthcare ~ Julian Le Grand; Social care: choice and control ~ Martin Knapp; Neighbourhood renewal, mixed communities and social integration ~ Anne Power; Part Three: Redistribution: between households; over time; between areas: The restructuring of redistribution ~ David Piachaud; Pensions, public opinion and policy ~ John Hills; Distributing resources ~ Tony Travers.

"This important tribute to Howard Glennerster addresses the issue of social policy's effectiveness. By adapting the pragmatic tradition that has historically characterized British social policy scholarship to an analysis of current implementation issues, the book makes a major contribution and deserves to be widely read." James Midgley, Harry and Riva Specht Professor, University of California, Berkeley