Making a complex subject very approachable, this new edition to this popular book is an essential resource for any student needing to understand social policy in Britain today. This is an updated edition of a very well-established and strong selling book. The author is respected by lecturers and popular with students. It has fully revised features to aid learning, including web-based and electronic resource lists.Understanding social policy can be a daunting task, this book guides students and trainees through the subject, making complex ideas easy to digest. Packed with updated questions, tasks and resource lists, it provides important material on major new areas of debate, including pension provision and rising NHS costs.

Praise for the second edition: 'Superb updated edition. You cannot study social policy without reading this.'- Lynne Brown, Belfast Institute of Higher and Further Education, UK 'Provides a succinct overview of both the historical and current developments in major areas of social policy. Easy to read, provides useful questions for students' focus.' - Surinder Guru, University of Birmingham, UK 'Even better than the previous edition. Thoroughly updated, it covers a lot of ground without drowning students, opening up a range of issues for them to discuss and interpolate.' - Margaret May, London Metropolitan University, UK

PETE ALCOCK is Professor of Social Policy and Administration and Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is the author of Understanding Poverty 3e (2006) and co-editor of the The Blackwell Companion to Social Policy, The Blackwell Dictionary of Social Policy and International Social Policy. He is past chair of the Social Policy Association and the Journal of Social Policy.