A step too far: employer perspectives on in-work conditionality

Jones, Katy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8090-4557 and Carson, Calum (2024) A step too far: employer perspectives on in-work conditionality. Journal of European Social Policy. ISSN 0958-9287

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Abstract

This paper explores employer perspectives on the extension of behavioural conditionality to working social security claimants (“in-work conditionality”). As policymakers across Europe and other developed nations have pursued increasingly interventionist approaches to activating the unemployed through conditional welfare policies, the UK has gone a significant and “unprecedented” step further by requiring those in receipt of in-work benefits to demonstrate their efforts to increase their working hours and/or pay. As the actors ultimately in control over the jobs people can access and progress in, understanding employer perspectives on this new policy development is critical, however has so far been overlooked by policymakers and researchers. We address this omission through presenting original analysis of 84 semi-structured interviews conducted with a diverse group of employers. We find that while the UK’s Work First approach to activation has seemingly encountered little resistance from employers to date, this new Work First, Work More approach may be a step too far. We contribute theoretically by identifying a potential role for employers as latent path disruptors in policy development, and challenge the commonly-held assumption that employers are typically supportive of extensions of behavioural conditionality to social security claimants.