Welfare policies are currently undergoing changes in which familiar state and market centred approaches are being blended with various other arrangements with the result that allegedly contradictory patterns have emerged in terms of the social distribution of the responsibility for welfare. The term welfare mix has become common currency to depict this variety and complexity. It is linked to the concepts of welfare pluralism (WP) and mixed economy of welfare (MEW), which were formulated in the late 1970s and early 1980s in an attempt to emphasise the plurality of sources and forms of intervention in welfare. However, these concepts have rarely been used systematically in welfare studies. In the 11 chapters of this book, social policy and welfare experts revisit and revise the MEW approach, relating it with other social policy research traditions and demonstrating the usefulness of this analytical tool to describe existing arrangements, policies and changes in British welfare.

In the first chapter, the editor presents the conceptual framework of WP and MEW in terms of three main ideas. First, welfare mixes should be considered in their particular territorial contexts, policy fields and historical moments. Second, there is a plurality of sources of welfare such that the typical components of MEW can be complemented with those of the social division of welfare (SDW). While MEW concerns the articulation between welfare mechanisms such as state, market, voluntary and informal governance, SDW considers diverse means of welfare delivery such as statutory, occupational and fiscal. None of these concepts overlaps totally with the welfare state. While social policy and social policy analysis are usually focused on the MEW, including elements that go beyond the welfare state, SDW is broader than social policy, including fiscal, employment and occupational policies. The third idea is that provision, financing and regulation are three ways through which these sources intervene in welfare. While provision and production relate to the themes of production/ownership and to the question of who pays for welfare, regulation relates to legal political authority and can be measured in terms of the degree of control. In reviewing social policy and welfare state research, the author demonstrates that although the idea of welfare mixes has been often present, for instance in welfare regimes studies, the research agenda of the MEW has rarely been taken integrally. Instead there is a tendency to concentrate on the state and/or on provision and to analyse the several sources of welfare in isolation.

The other chapters follow the framework laid down in the introduction. In Chapter 2, John Stewart presents an historical analysis of the MEW in Britain, showing not only the historical variation of welfare mixes but also, crucially, the changing nature of the elements of welfare. Chapters 3–8 make detailed reference to the trajectory of British social policy and research with special attention to New Labour policies. The first four chapters in this section review the literature and policies of MEW in the shifting articulations between the dimensions of provision, financing and regulation. This includes analysis of the changing mixes of central and local state welfare (Brian Lund), the multifaceted relocation of welfare responsibilities from public to private welfare (Mark Drakeford), the changes in the relationship with the state and the roles of the voluntary and community welfare (Pete Alcock and Duncan Scott), and the articulation between state policies and the provision of informal welfare by family, friends or neighbours (Hilary Arksey and Caroline Glendinning). A range of policy areas are analysed through case studies of social security and pensions, healthcare, education, social services and care, each of which considers the impacts of changes and emerging tensions. Given that statutory welfare was analysed previously, Chapters 7 and 8 deal with neglected elements of the SDW: tax or fiscal welfare through tax credits and various sorts of tax relief (Adrian Sinfield) and occupational welfare, consisting of numerous types of benefits and services offered – compulsorily or voluntarily – by employers to employees (Edward Brunsdon and Margaret May). Compared with state welfare these are more opaque in terms of scale and effects and, with the exception of tax credits, tend to be regressive and to increase other sorts of inequalities. Both are increasing in popularity, while state welfare loses ground in provision and financing.

Chapters 9 and 10 consider the international dimension of MEW. Michael Hill explores how welfare mixes are analysed in comparative international studies and demonstrates that mainstream theories of welfare regimes fail to fully account for the existing diversity in specific national arrangements in different policy areas, let alone to explain it. Nicola Yeates examines the involvement of supranational organisations and international non-governmental organisations in social policy formation and its influence on national systems, noticing that this involvement occurs through different mixes of instruments and providers. It is suggested briefly that there are different forms of regulation with different outcomes.

The last chapter, by the editor, revisits the theoretical framework and debates, and suggests possible connections with other debates such as consumerism, civil society, governance, new public management, risk, partnership and public service ethos. It also reinstates the idea, present throughout the book, that, although some political perspectives on the MEW argue that the different sources of welfare are functionally equivalent, analyses of consequences of particular mixes show that this may not be so. The most fruitful analytical idea in this chapter is, in my opinion, its demonstration that the MEW approach can grasp policy dynamics across different sources of welfare and types of intervention, providing us with a tool to overcome the tendency to focus on single dimensions and static sectors and boundaries.

The book offers a coherent and comprehensive account of MEW in Britain both in policy and in policy studies, while offering useful insights to other conceptualisations. Presented in a very accessible way and including teaching and learning tools, it is of interest both to academics and students, whether interested in the MEW approach, in social policy studies or in British social policy. Finally, it leaves the ground open for future work that may profit from further articulations between the MEW approach and other conceptualisations.