ABSTRACT
The common features in the redesign of welfare regimes in Britain encapsulated by ECM are human capital, investment for the future and life-long learning. The underlying political belief was that there is a cycle of deprivation that ensnares children and young people and limits their life chances and opportunities. According to New Labour rhetoric, this had to be tackled for two main reasons: to secure an educated workforce for a competitive knowledge economy and to minimise the risk of social exclusion with its consequences for children and young people. The focus was not so much on the advantages accrued by the individual child or young person, but rather by the family unit as a whole and the community in which it is situated. Children are self-evidently ‘symbols of the future’ and the goals and outcomes set for them are by necessity for the long term.
