Delivering Welfare

Since the early 1980s, there has been a series of radical changes in the arrangements for the delivery of the major social services. Under the Thatcher and Major Governments, the traditional role of local authorities as front line delivery agencies of the welfare state was challenged. Privatization, the search for efficiency, and the customer orientation became important features of the system of welfare delivery. The Blair Government has continued many of these initiatives, as well as putting its own stamp on the arrangements for the delivery of welfare.