The third edition of this well established textbook remains a key book for students of social policy and other sociology related disciplines. Updates to this edition cover Labour's administration (1997 to date), taking into account the commitments made by Labour in their 2005 general election campaign. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field, to provide comprehensive coverage of a wide variety of social policy and welfare issues. All the existing chapters have been thoroughly reviewed and updated to take into account recent changes in British and European social policy. For this edition one new chapter has been added - Globalization and Social Policy. The chapters are written in a non-technical way and are supported by detailed case studies, suggestions for further reading, end-of-chapter questions and a glossary. In addition, the supporting online resource centre provides further material including weblinks, answers to the end-of-chapter questions, and updates.