Retired EU migrants, healthcare rights and European social citizenship

Drawing on a set of 210 qualitative interviews conducted in six European countries, this paper investigates the citizenship status and experiences of retired EU migrants at both national and European levels. The paper focuses upon the experiences of two types of respondents: ‘Retired Migrants’ (retired nationals of one EU country who moved on retirement and reside in another EU host state) and ‘Returnees’, that is, those migrants who have chosen to return to their country of origin after a period of residence abroad. In particular, this paper will attempt to explore three issues: (a) The extent to which retired migrants have access to, and make use of, the public healthcare systems of the countries in which they reside. (b) Retired migrants’ perceptions and experiences of those systems. (c) Whether or not a lack of access to and/or the quality of public healthcare is an important determinant of return migration decisions, i.e. moves back to the country of origin. By focusing on healthcare the paper combines an analysis of the formal welfare rights available to EU citizens who migrate on retirement (both in terms of their EU rights and their status in the receiving and exporting countries) with qualitative evidence that documents the substantive reality of such rights

Meeting basic needs? Exploring the survival strategies of displaced migrants

End of award report to ESRC, for project reference RES-000-22-037

Integration? The perceptions and experiences of refugees in Yorkshire and the Humber

Using data generated in three focus groups with refugees resident in the Yorkshire and Humber region this report explores refugees’ perceptions and experiences of integration. Initially, refugees’ understandings of integration are explored. Discussions then consider three potentially important areas of integration, that is, refugees’ interactions with their neighbours, activity in the paid labour market and contact with formal welfare agencies. In spite of the barriers that many of them routinely face, the refugees’ interviewed clearly value the opportunity to rebuild their lives in a new location free from persecution

Creeping conditionality in the UK: From welfare rights to conditional entitlements?

A widely recognised central tenet of New Labour's "Third Way" is no rights without responsibilities. The extent to which this idea underpins the British government's approach to welfare reform has been extensively commented upon. Initially, the article places the UK reforms in the context of wider theoretical debates about welfare reform in Western states. It then highlights the ways in which a principle of conditionality is being practically applied in a wide range of sectors in the UK including; social security, housing, education, and health. The details and impact of recent relevant legislation and initiatives are discussed. It is argued that as policies based on conditional entitlement become central to the ongoing process of welfare reform the very idea of "welfare rights" is systematically undermined