Introduction

A specific purpose of this chapter is to address the central question of who should provide welfare from a service user perspective. Throughout, the qualitative data presented will relate to the three areas of welfare chosen as the basis of the study, that is, healthcare, housing and social security. Initially, the users’ views on the appropriate role(s) of the state, the individual, the market and so on in terms of welfare provision are explored. This is followed by a consideration of several allied issues that were often raised in the group discussions. Opinions and experiences concerning the adequacy or inadequacy of current provisions are then investigated, and a discussion of the extent to which welfare service users feel stigmatised because they are in receipt of public welfare follows. The subject of how benefits and services are to be financed, a topic with obvious and important implications for public welfare, is then considered, prior to some concluding comments.

The role of the state, the market and other agencies in providing welfare

The state: a leading role in provision

Healthcare

The initial point to make is that the majority of users clearly located the ultimate responsibility for the provision of welfare firmly with the state. This was particularly the case when healthcare was discussed; indeed only two users deviated from this view. Many indicated a strong attachment to the NHS and its principle of universal ‘free’ care, provided as and when people required treatment, and financed from general taxation. Two justifications were prominent. First, people believed they had an individual right to healthcare through past contributions; in effect that they had previously paid contributions on the tacit understanding that publicly provided healthcare would be available as and when they required it.