This book examines the twin issues of cash and care – and the relationships between them – in the contemporary welfare state. Traditionally, ‘cash’ has referred to earnings and the range of income maintenance measures such as social security benefits, pensions and tax credits that are provided through or on behalf of the welfare state. In contrast, ‘care’ has included both the care of non-disabled children and the range of practical, personal and social support needed by longterm sick, disabled and older people, whether provided by the statutory, voluntary, private or informal sector. ‘Care’ provided by the welfare state has typically been delivered in the form of services in kind.

However, this traditional distinction has begun to break down. For example, there has been a partial shift in both Britain and in other developed welfare societies towards providing payments or subsidies that enable people to purchase or otherwise fund their own support arrangements. The clearest examples of this are ‘direct payments’ (or personal budgets in some other countries), which allow disabled and older people to employ their own personal assistants. Similar cash payments or subsidies have been introduced to (partially) substitute or compensate for the care provided for children by their parents, usually their mothers. This latter example also illustrates the blurring of the cash and care divide in relation to income protection policies, with the shift from a ‘passive’ to an ‘active’ approach for people of working age. Thus, financial support for the childcare costs of lowincome families, provided in Britain through tax credit arrangements, is part of a package of measures to encourage the movement from social security benefits into paid employment. Furthermore, instead of simply being entitled to social security benefits by virtue of unemployment, disability or caregiving responsibilities, people of working age who claim benefits are encouraged (and in some cases required) to undertake work-related activities ranging from attendance at work-focused interviews to participation in formal welfare-to-work programmes. These are all part of a shift from passive to active forms of welfare. Although these work-related activities are not care as defined above, they nonetheless reflect income maintenance activities provided through the welfare state that go beyond simple cash payments.