ABSTRACT
Thinking the unthinkable became the cornerstone on which the welfare reform programme would build once the electorate had signalled its approval. Welfare expenditure has certainly grown disproportionately in comparison with the rise in the UK's national income. Thinking the unthinkable on the front meant asking why people needed welfare. Welfare is offered under three different sets of rules in the United Kingdom. First, there are national insurance benefits. A second category of benefits is known as non-contributory insurance benefits. A third category of welfare is offered only after a test of income and capital, or what we call a means test. The changing composition of the welfare bills–from financing the costs by way of insurance contributions to a growing reliance on taxed financed non-contributory benefits–was tracked by a transformation in the ideas the elite held about welfare.
