In his successful 2015 General Election campaign and subsequent keynote speeches, then-Prime Minister David Cameron repeatedly returned to the idea of ‘security’ as a leitmotif for the reformed society he and his government were seeking to create. He believed – rightly – that the idea of security resonates with the population (Orton, 2015) and speaks to the anxieties of so many that life is all too often insecure and uncertain.

Whether and how far the reforms instigated under Cameron's leadership between 2010 and 2016 increased security is, of course, highly questionable – particularly for those directly affected by successive waves of welfare reform. As the research reported in this book have illustrated, the material impact of reforms have pushed many people further into poverty and undermined physical and mental wellbeing, while a constant backdrop of change has left individuals living with chronic and destabilising insecurity and fears about an uncertain future. Classic liberal citizenship theorist T. H. Marshall argued that the social rights of citizenship should provide at least a ‘modicum of economic welfare and security’ (1950, emphasis added). Now more than ever it is important to interrogate whether this is provided to those at the sharp end of welfare reform.

In this concluding chapter, the key findings from this research are summarised, focusing particular on the disjuncture between citizenship as it is conceptualised from above and citizenship as it is lived and experienced from below. This is particularly evident in competing notions and experiences of (in)security and benefits receipt. The political and theoretical implications of this are then discussed before a brief consideration of areas that would benefit from further research.