Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the relations of shame, blame and working responsibility under Universal Credit and how these contribute to understanding of the nature of recipients and the causes of income poverty.

Paper long abstract:

Coalition government of 2010-2015 focuses on the theme of 'work' in welfare reform. Universal Credit (UC) aims to move out-of-work recipient into employment and make certain amounts of work pay; and to smooth the transition into work. Seeing social liberalism as part of the root causes of social problems, UC, which is based on neo-liberal parternalist approach, is framed by the Coalition government to reduce welfare dependence, to alleviate (nonworking and in-working) poverty by incentivising working responsibility via punitive conditionality and marketisation. The 'work first' approach aims to place recipients in jobs ASAP and rest on the assumption that most recipients are capable of finding work, and advancement and higher wages will come from the experience of working rather than from building skills through education or training. The 'work first' approach, may be not sufficient to help all citizens, who have left welfare, to remain employed in the long term. This paper examines the design and structure of Universal Credit, e.g. single taper rate and new sanction regime, and how these contribute to understanding of the nature of recipients and the causes of income poverty.