Re-visiting the conceptual framework for public/private boundaries in welfare

Tania Burchardt

Published 1 May 2013

Under the Conservative administration 1979-1997, there was considerable debate about the boundaries of the welfare state: what should be provided by the state, what could or should be provided through the market, what mix of tax finance and private insurance or out-of-pocket payments was desirable, what aspects of welfare should be the responsibility of the individual and what of the state? The prevailing ideology was to reduce taxation and minimise state intervention; to ‘roll back the frontiers of the state’, especially the welfare state.