ABSTRACT
This chapter takes stock of the state of the art in research on the frontline delivery of welfare-to-work by exploring and discussing some of the main issues that the academic literature reporting on this research raises and analyses. It presents a literature review of studies that focus on the front-line delivery of welfare-to-work policies. First, the studies make convincingly clear that frontline practices tell a story about what welfare-to-work is and how it affects people's lives that remain hidden when people study formal policies only. Second, the studies show that frontline practices are shaped by a complex set of context characteristics that include, but certainly are not limited to, characteristics of formal policies. And finally, the studies provide evidence that frontline practices matter: in terms of workers' attitudes to clients, in terms of how clients are treated and the services provided to them, in terms of the outcomes that are strived for and in terms of the outcomes actually realized.
