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(Not) bright like a diamond: Exploring Surat’s diamond polishing hub during a protracted recession

By Kavya Bharadkar

Issue 30 // 14th January 2025

Kavya Bharadkar explores how recession in Surat’s diamond industry drives job cuts, unpaid leave, and rising worker distress, exposing deep structural flaws and the need for reform. Read more of the article

Reshaping responsibility: Platforms, clients and the online gig economy

By Karthika Nadarajah

Issue 30 // 14th January 2025

Karthika Nadarajah highlights how digital platforms reshape gig work, but client accountability is lacking. Shared responsibility models and clearer roles can balance fairness with innovation in the gig economy. Read more of the article

It makes you sick: The mental health impact of the demonisation and policing of benefit claimants

By Allan Reynolds

Issue 29 // 16th October 2024

Allan Reynolds examines how mental health patients expressed anxiety about the transition from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment, rooted in negative experiences with the Work Capability Assessment, highlighting the broader harmful impacts of harsh welfare policies. Read more of the article

Confusion and contradiction: Navigating work and disability benefit rules  

By Annie Harper and Yolanda Herring

Issue 29 // 16th October 2024

Annie Harper and Yolanda Herring show how people on disability benefits face contradictions: they must prove total inability to work, enduring stigma and fraud checks, while being pressured to return to work, reflecting a belief that full citizenship depends on 'productive' employment. Read more of the article

Current challenges and future opportunities for social security claimants and policy 

By Daphne Hall

Issue 29 // 16th October 2024

Daphne Hall suggests that Labour's proposals offer a holistic approach to employment support, shifting the DWP's role toward helping people. However, issues like the NHS and adult social care, which impact the nation's health, also need urgent attention. Read more of the article

People-powered welfare: Including lived experience in redesigning employment support  

By Niall Cooper and Jane Perry

Issue 29 // 16th October 2024

Niall Cooper and Jane Perry emphasise the importance of including individuals with lived experience in reforming the employment support system to effectively address economic inactivity and enhance welfare policies. Read more of the article

A place-based approach to fair pay and secure working hours 

By Ellie Farmahan

Issue 28 // 23rd July 2024

On the Futures of Work blog, Ellie Farmahan describes the success of Living Wage UK in putting £3 billion into the pockets of workers over the last 20 years, and what still needs to be done to ensure more workers have security and enough to live on. Read more of the article

Austerity-driven policification: Police officers replace teaching assistants

By Malte Laub

Issue 27 // 29th April 2024

Malte Laub considers the effect of austerity on the role of the police, who are now having to act as teaching assistants and mental health support workers, and pick up the pieces of a failed welfare state. Read more of the article

Why employees in finance are paid (a lot) more than everyone else and what does it mean for workers’ politics?

By Iris Nikolopoulou

Issue 27 // 29th April 2024

Iris Nikolopoulou analyses how the increasing influence of the financial sector has generated distinct paths in terms of working conditions between workers employed by private financial institutions and the rest of the economy. Read more of the article

How the rising influence of institutional investors undermines the bargaining power of trade unions

By Thibault Darcillon and Yasmine Mohamed

Issue 27 // 29th April 2024

Thibault Darcillon and Yasmine Mohamed look at the link between the rise of institutional investors and the decreasing power of trade unions, and their consequent bargaining power. Read more of the article