Reforming working-age social security: lessons for policy makers

Why has reforming working-age social security proved so hard? What lessons can be learnt for future reform from what has worked – and what has not worked so well – in the past? This Insight paper captures the lessons from a roundtable convened by the Institute for Government in partnership with the Social Security Advisory Committee.

In April 2018, we brought together former ministers, civil servants, academics, parliamentarians and other advisers to discuss progress over the past 30 years in reforming working-age social security. Our ‘roundtable’ of 26 attendees took place under the Chatham House rule.