A framework for analysing family policy and an application to the UK

Abstract This paper puts family policy under the spotlight. It develops a theoretical framework that treats family policy as concerned with three sets of relationships: between the family and the state, between the family and the economy, and between the family and society. It then applies this framework to the UK. The analyses of the policies of the New Labour and Conservative governments confirm how profoundly the family has figured in UK social policy over the last 30 years. The respective approaches were quite different, though: New Labour favoured a universalist approach and used family policy for economic redistributive as well as social purposes, whereas the Conservatives generally eschewed significant redistribution and made ‘problem families’ the focus of (intensive and generally negative) policy intervention while aiming for relative autonomy for families more broadly. In thinking about why the current Labour government has struggled to make any real momentum in family policy, the framework directs attention to their moral ambiguity on what individuals and families deserve in support from the state, together with their ambivalence on redistribution. As a result, the Conservatives’ version of family policy remains largely in place.