ABSTRACT Norwegian child welfare reform emphasizes quality development within the child welfare service (CWS), identifying effective management and leadership as key drivers. This study examines leadership in quality development in the CWS, focusing on the roles of municipal directors (MDs) and child welfare managers (CWMs). Qualitative interviews with 16 MDs and CWMs across eight municipalities indicate that while both groups are committed to quality and collaboration, their strategies differ. The former adopts a systemic perspective, whereas the latter concentrates on quality development in day-to-day operations. Municipal directors stress the importance of CWS in interdisciplinary collaboration for preventive work, whereas CWMs emphasize cooperation in complex child welfare cases. Municipal directors are attentive to organizational structures that foster interaction between the CWS and other services, while CWMs stress the need to establish robust frameworks, recruit competent personnel, and secure strong municipal management support. A silo mentality characterized by excessive internal isolation and insufficient cross-functional collaboration presents a challenge in all municipalities. This study complements the CWM literature by revealing how CWMs and MDs approach quality development. It contributes to quality development scholarship by demonstrating that interdisciplinary collaboration is promoted as a key measure of quality. The findings offer policymakers and stakeholders valuable insights by clarifying perspectives and approaches to quality development within CWS management.

The article provides an in-depth study of the functioning, investment policy, and efficiency of Georgia's funded pension system. The paper analyzes performance dynamics from 2019 to the present, the structure of the investment portfolio, and risk management mechanisms. Using empirical data, the Sharpe ratio, and international comparative analysis, the research identifies key challenges, such as low diversification and the underdeveloped local capital market. Finally, the study develops recommendations to ensure long-term financial sustainability. Keywords: pension reform, investment portfolio, diversification, financial margin, asset management.

This paper examines the impact of delayed retirement, induced by pension reforms, on late-career mental health, focusing on working conditions. While studies have analysed aspects of job quality – such as high-strain roles and automation risk – none have considered the full range of job characteristics shaping workers’ experiences. We address this gap by analysing six key dimensions of job quality: skills and discretion, working time quality, physical environment, social environment, work intensity, and career prospects. To mitigate endogeneity concerns in self-reported mental health measures, we incorporate occupation-level data on working conditions from external sources. Our analysis leverages pension reforms enacted between 2011 and 2015 in 14 European countries, integrating data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe with job quality measures from the European Working Conditions Survey. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we estimate the causal impact of extended work horizons on depression while accounting for cross-country differences in labour markets and pension systems. Our findings confirm that delaying retirement negatively affects older workers’ mental health, especially in the case of larger increases in the retirement age. However, the magnitude of this impact varies depending on job quality. Workers in unsupportive social environments, precarious jobs with limited career prospects, or roles with low autonomy exhibit the largest increases in depression. In contrast, individuals in high quality jobs, particularly those with supportive workplaces, experience milder negative effects or even benefits. To prevent pension reforms from harming workers’ well-being, they should be complemented by labour market policies that promote sustainable working conditions, job adaptability, and lifelong learning. • Pension reforms delaying retirement increase late-career depression. • Job quality moderates mental health effects of delayed retirement. • Low-autonomy, insecure jobs with poor social conditions are the most harmful. • Supportive work environment and good job prospects alleviate mental health effects. • Aligning labour policies with pension reforms is essential for late-career health.

The article analyzes the consequences of radical socio-economic reforms in Russia after the collapse of the USSR. The authors emphasize that reforms oriented toward Western development models led to serious social problems: a decline in living standards, rising inequality, the emergence of new social groups (the homeless, the destitute), and the enrichment of a narrow stratum of oligarchs. Special attention is paid to the long-term negative effects in key spheres of society. The aim of the study was to assess the outcomes of key post-Soviet reforms (pension reform, housing and utilities reform, education reform, and reform of state institutions) in the context of their alignment with the interests of the majority of the population. The work employs a historical approach, a comparative method, a critical analysis of the socio-economic consequences of the reforms, and a synthesis of statistical and social data. The analysis showed that: (a) the pension reform did not take into account Russian traditions; (b) the housing and utilities reform led to the growth of bureaucracy, the emergence of management companies as instruments of corruption, and the complication of payment procedures; (c) the Bologna system in education caused an outflow of talented youth abroad and the formation of a "fifth column," although it also allowed for the modernization of some programs; (d) the reform of state institutions copied Western models without considering historical experience, which provoked crises, separatism, and the rise of populism. Consequently, the conclusion is drawn that copying Western models without adaptation to Russian realities has led to systemic problems. For sustainable development, it is necessary to: take into account national and regional specificities when planning reforms, prioritize the interests of the majority of the population over external recommendations, and adjust unsuccessful decisions in light of social justice and historical continuity.

Universal Credit (UC) is a major UK welfare reform that consolidates six means-tested benefits into a single monthly payment, aiming to simplify benefits delivery and incentivize labor market participation. However, concerns have emerged regarding its potential adverse consequences on recipients' mental and physical well-being. Existing evidence is limited by methodological weaknesses, short follow-up time, and a narrow focus on psychological distress. Applying the heterogeneous difference-in-differences approach developed by Callaway and Sant'Anna, we used waves 6-14 of the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS), focusing on working-age individuals receiving social benefits to evaluate the short- and long-term effects of that welfare reform on psychological distress (GHQ-12), mental functioning (SF-12 MCS), physical functioning (SF-12 PCS), but also employment, perceived financial outlook, benefits income, and total income. Transitioning to UC significantly increased GHQ-12 scores by 1.20 points (95% CI: 0.33 to 2.07) and decreased SF-12 MCS scores by 2.19 points (95% CI: - 3.79 to - 0.59), indicating deteriorating mental health. No significant effect was observed for SF-12 PCS. UC was also associated with a £93.05 reduction in monthly benefit income, a £222 decrease in total income, and an 8%-point decrease in perceived financial optimism. No significant effect on employment status was detected. Our findings suggest that the transition to UC adversely affected mental health and financial well-being, while yielding limited employment benefits. These adverse impacts reflect both implementation challenges, such as payment delays and benefit deductions, and structural design flaws, including rigid conditionality and reduced income security for vulnerable groups. The results underscore the need for welfare reforms that integrate health considerations and provide more flexible, targeted support to mitigate unintended harms.

ABSTRACT Neoliberal welfare reforms and limited pathways to permanent residency have left migrant women, among other groups, with little or no access to public social protection, contributing to their precarious legal status. As a result, civil society actors (CSA) have become the main providers of support and deliver micro-level social protection beyond the boundaries of public authorities. At the same time, CSA's resources remain tied to collaborations with government actors in the delivery of services. Within this context, this study examines how CSAs use different forms of knowledge to frame the situations of migrant women with precarious legal status who experience gender-based violence (GBV). In a dynamic process of framing GBV situations and constantly reshaping the meanings of administrative categories, CSAs create temporary micro-practices of social protection. Data are based on a vignette method, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals from 31 CSAs operating in Italy and Sweden. Findings show that CSAs strategically produce and mobilise knowledge that frames the legal and humanitarian dimensions of precarious situations of migrant women experiencing GBV, legitimising their actions, securing resources, and navigating tensions with public authorities. Through this, CSAs reshape the architecture of social protection for migrant women confronting GBV within neoliberal bureaucratic frameworks.

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of former Filipino public-school teachers from Monkayo, Davao de Oro who migrated abroad to pursue teaching careers. Guided by Everett Lee’s Push and Pull Migration Framework, the study examined the conditions that drove teachers to leave the Philippine public-school system and the opportunities that attracted them overseas. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven participants teaching across four U.S. states, the research uncovered their motivations, challenges, coping mechanisms, insights, and recommendations. Findings revealed that inadequate compensation, heavy workloads, and limited professional growth served as major push factors, while higher pay, supportive work environments, and career advancement abroad functioned as strong pull factors. Participants coped with social support networks, adaptability, and professional commitment, gaining new perspectives on education, resilience, and identity. Their recommendations highlighted the need for improved teacher welfare, recognition, and systemic reforms to reduce migration. The study provided a humanized understanding of teacher migration, offering insights valuable to policymakers and educational leaders in addressing teacher retention in the Philippines.

ABSTRACT Welfare-to-work policies increasingly mobilise health and wellbeing to justify activation and compliance, particularly for single parents. Existing research shows that such regimes often individualise unemployment and caregiving, obscuring structural barriers linked to poverty, gendered care labour, and trauma. In Australia, the ParentsNext program became a focal point for these debates prior to its abolition in 2024. This study examines how health and wellbeing were framed in the policy debate surrounding ParentsNext. The analysis draws on critical scholarship on welfare conditionality, neoliberal activation, and feminist political economy of care. Using critical framing theory, welfare policy debates are conceptualised as discursive fields in which responsibility, deservingness, and parenthood are morally constructed. The concept of hidden workers is used to theorise how unpaid care and health burdens contribute to labour-market exclusion. A qualitative critical framing analysis was conducted on 73 submissions to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into ParentsNext. Submissions were coded to identify individualising, structural, and equity-oriented frames and compared across government, industry, advocacy, academic, and lived-experience actors. Government and industry actors predominantly framed health and caregiving as individual compliance barriers, aligning with activation logics. Advocacy organisations, academics, and culturally specific groups emphasised structural and equity-based explanations, while lived-experience submissions highlighted both harm from conditionality and the importance of relational trust. The findings situate ParentsNext within a broader trend of governing welfare through health and conditionality. Reframing care and health as matters of social responsibility rather than compliance is essential for welfare reforms that recognise hidden workers and address structural inequality.

The article analyses Ukraine’s pension system with the aim of identifying and assessing institutional imbalances and regulatory gaps that determine its financial instability and low social effectiveness. The author addresses the permanent crisis of the solidarity level of the pension system caused by demographic challenges, the shadowing of the labour market, and institutional inertia in implementing of accumulation mechanisms. It has been established that institutional imbalances manifest themselves in functional asymmetry between the declared social goals of the pension system and the actual instruments for their implementation. The main gaps include insufficient diversification of funding sources, fragmentation of the legislative framework, the existence of special pension regimes, and the underdevelopment of the accumulation levels of the national pension system. The consequences of these imbalances have been identified, manifesting in the rapidly growing trend of the number of pensioners exceeding the number of insured persons, the chronic growing deficit of the Pension Fund, and the low replacement rate of lost earnings (pensions). Particular emphasis is placed on the institutionally unjustified differentiation in pension provision: it has been established that preferential pensions granted under specific laws (in particular, for judges, prosecutors, civil servants, etc.) significantly exceed the average level of payments provided in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”. This practice leads to a critical increase in social inequality among pensioners and undermines public confidence in the long-term pension outlook. The article systematically identifies the conceptual pitfalls of Ukrainian pension reform and the formulation of proposals to improve the institutional foundations of a three-tier pension system capable of ensuring the adequacy and sustainability of pension payments in conditions of economic turbulence.

Permanency planning, an approach to the placement of children in out-of-home care, is central to child and family system practice, policy and law. Using the example of legislative reforms in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, this article explores how privileging legal permanence leads to ongoing failures to account for Aboriginal worldviews and child-rearing practices. Drawing on qualitative research, including Yarning Circles and semi-structured interviews that I conducted with Aboriginal community members in NSW, the findings contribute to limited evidence on permanence from Indigenous perspectives, revealing how familial and cultural connectedness shape belonging and social and emotional wellbeing and highlighting the importance of children’s ongoing connections with extended Aboriginal family, community and culture. Aboriginal understandings of permanence align more closely with cultural, relational and physical domains than with the construct of legal permanence that predominates in permanency planning approaches. Prioritizing legally permanent care arrangements above other domains poses long-term risks to Aboriginal children’s social and emotional wellbeing, demonstrating the need for “deep-level” cultural adaptation in child welfare law, policy and practice. The findings have implications for decolonizing child protection and repositioning Aboriginal conceptualizations of permanence as the foundation for legislation, policy and practice—reforms that must be Indigenous-led, culturally grounded from the outset, and anchored in full implementation of principles embedding self-determination and Indigenous children’s fundamental rights.

Health-related economic inactivity in England has risen, with more working-age adults claiming disability and incapacity benefits. The 2016 Welfare Reform and Work Act reduced weekly payments for Employment and Support Allowance recipients deemed capable of some work from April 2017, potentially affecting poverty, mental health and employment among people with long-term conditions (LTCs). Evidence on its causal impact is limited. Using UK Household Longitudinal Survey data (2010-2019), we evaluated the reform's impact on working-age individuals with LTCs. Triple-difference and difference-in-differences models assessed transitions in employment, poverty risk (income <40% median) and incident poor mental health (defined as SF-12 Mental Component Score ≤45.6 among those without prior poor mental health), controlling for age, gender, children and education. The 2017 reform was associated with a 5.5 percentage point increase in poverty risk among individuals with LTCs leaving employment (95% CI 1.4% to 9.6%, p=0.008) and an 8.9 percentage point increase in the incidence of poor mental health in this group (95% CI 1.1% to 16.7%, p=0.025). No significant effects on transitions into or out of employment were observed at the 95% confidence level.Applying these estimates to national employment figures suggests that the reform may have resulted in approximately 37254 additional people entering severe poverty and 60117 additional cases of poor mental health annually. These findings suggest that reductions in disability-related benefits may exacerbate financial and mental health vulnerability among affected individuals but not affect employment. This highlights the need for policy measures that balance fiscal objectives with social protection.

The article examines the main directions of pension system reform in the countries of the European Union and Ukraine in the context of contemporary socio-economic transformations. The theoretical foundations of the functioning of pension provision are analyzed, and its role in shaping the system of social protection of the population is determined. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the current state of pension systems, key trends in their development, and the challenges faced by European countries and Ukraine under conditions of demographic and economic change. The main factors that determine the need for pension system reform are identified, including demographic population aging, increasing life expectancy, a decrease in the share of the economically active population, an increasing burden on working citizens, as well as the financial instability of solidarity pension systems. The study examines the main models of pension provision operating in the countries of the European Union and identifies their characteristic features. The experience of implementing multi-pillar pension systems that combine solidarity, funded, and private pension provision levels is analyzed. It is demonstrated that the combination of different mechanisms for the formation of pension benefits makes it possible to increase the financial stability of the system, ensure the diversification of sources of pension income, and reduce risks associated with demographic changes. The features of the functioning of the pension system of Ukraine, its institutional structure, and the mechanisms for the formation of pension benefits are examined. The main problems of its development are identified, including the deficit of the pension fund budget, a high level of shadow employment, low pension payments, and a demographic imbalance between contributors and pension recipients. The expediency of using the positive experience of European Union countries in the process of further reforming the national pension system, taking into account the socio-economic characteristics of Ukraine, is substantiated. The study proposes directions for improving the efficiency of the pension system of Ukraine, including the development of the funded level of pension provision, improvement of pension asset management mechanisms, increasing the transparency of the functioning of pension institutions, and creating conditions for strengthening public trust in the pension system. The implementation of the proposed measures will contribute to strengthening the financial stability of the pension system, improving the level of social protection of citizens, and ensuring its long-term sustainability.

ABSTRACT This study examines how experts strategically mobilize ideas through framing and narrative in deliberative polling. Analyzing South Korea’s 2024 pension reform deliberation, we investigate how competing expert panels utilize the valence and polysemic ideas of sustainability and solidarity as coalition magnets to influence public discourse. This study combines computational text analysis and qualitative interpretation through frequency analysis, Clauset–Newman–Moore community detection in word co-occurrence networks, sentence-level term frequency–inverse document frequency analysis, and framing and narrative analysis of salient passages. The analysis shows that competing experts strategically framed these ideas through distinct narratives: fiscal stability advocates emphasized financial sustainability and intergenerational equity through decline narratives, while income security proponents used control narratives to emphasize social responsibility and government intervention. The findings contribute to deliberative democracy research by demonstrating that experts strategically use framing and narrative to shape lay citizens’ preferences and advance preferred policy alternatives.

This article presents a psychosocial study of men unable to work due to mental illness and their encounters with the UK’s social security system, using the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) method. Drawing on interviews with 17 men in North-West England, it highlights the central yet often overlooked role of women, particularly mothers and partners, in male participants’ narratives. It explores how these relationships serve as a form of relational legitimacy, offering emotional and practical support in the face of an increasingly punitive and neoliberal social security system. The analysis firstly locates the broader socio-political context before situating the relational dynamics, arguing in the context of declining community and mental health services, and increasingly punitive welfare reforms, those needing to claim benefits, specifically those with mental health difficulties, are becoming ever more reliant on the support of female family members, as a substitute for a welfare state which has been defunded and delegitimised. The article concludes by reflecting on how the FANI method served to both elicit the data and facilitated keeping in sight the psychic and social forces which interpenetrate, shaping the lives of the participants. This article foregrounds the importance of attending to unconscious processes and relational entanglements when analysing the impact of structural changes on individual lives. A psychosocial approach, it argues, reveals how structural reforms and personal lives are deeply intertwined in shaping experiences of mental illness and welfare ‘dependence’.

Abstract Any experience of childhood poverty affects life chances, but longer exposure is particularly detrimental to education, health, and future earnings. This study examines trends in long-term childhood poverty in Britain. Using a life-course perspective, we tracked poverty from birth to age ten among 1991–2017 birth cohorts. Our findings show that, on average, 17 per cent of children spent at least half of their childhood in poverty. Long-term poverty affected 25 per cent of those born in the early 1990s, markedly declined to 13–14 percent for cohorts born after the post-1997 welfare reforms, and rose again to 23 per cent for children born following the 2013 austerity reforms. These trends are driven by shifts in the penalties associated with work-family risk factors, rather than by changes in their prevalence. These shifts in penalties reflect broader changes in redistribution and predistribution. The decline in the 1990s was largely due to rising employment and earnings in low-income households, whereas the post-austerity surge stems from reduced redistribution. For cohorts born in the 2000s, social transfers played a substantial role in containing long-term poverty despite worsening predistribution. Overall, the findings show that long-term childhood poverty is a major challenge in Britain and highlight the need to strengthen redistribution and predistribution.

ABSTRACT This study examines how child welfare managers in Norway align their leadership practices with the expectations for ‘better leadership’ following the implementation of the 2022 Child Welfare Reform. This reform emphasises increased governance, standardisation and quality assurance, aiming to improve efficiency in resource utilisation and service delivery. Through interviews with child welfare managers in three municipalities, analysed using thematic analysis, this study identifies leadership practice related to three key themes: profession, personnel and cooperation. While national guidelines and standardisation (governance) have improved transparency and predictability, managers at the local level face challenges in balancing management and leadership. The study highlights a paradox: the findings reflect leadership expectations that may be more dependent on leadership than management, but are described by our informants as handled by management. In order to fully understand local leadership, the concept of governance is important to gain insight into how management and leadership are balanced in practice. This has implications for the evolving role of child welfare managers, emphasising that they need to critically assess their leadership practice, in addition to prompting policymakers and municipal leaders to consider the impact of governance-focused reforms on leadership practices and service delivery.

The article addresses the legal regulation of the pension system in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a democratic, legal, and social state, whose political course is aimed at ensuring conditions for a decent life and free development of citizens. At the same time, the pension provision of citizens involves the provision of a certain amount of state guarantees to ensure a decent life for all categories of citizens. The article examines the dynamics and state of the pension system in the Republic of Kazakhstan as one of the first states to initiate the reform of the joint pension system among the post-Soviet states. The structure of the formation of pension provision for the population was determined, and the results of the analysis of the investment activities of the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund were presented. The authors consider the concept of «pension provision» and the legal, social, and economic aspects of pension provision. Also, observing the principle of accumulation, but expanding the possibilities of pension funds and individual voluntary opportunities of citizens in terms of pension provision, it supports further measures to diversify the investment portfolio of pension funds and expand the list of financial instruments suitable for investment at the expense of pension assets to ensure sufficient profitability of pension savings. To restore confidence in the pension system, the Government proposes developing a long-term strategy and concludes that it is necessary to adopt a new program for fundamental reforms. Key words: pension system, distributive and accumulative models, pension provision, Unified Accumulative Pension Fund, Social Code.

ABSTRACT Gender pension gaps remain significant across Asian countries, with Taiwan’s welfare state presenting unique disparities. Over the past decade, Taiwan has made strides in narrowing these gaps, primarily through institutional reforms such as the implementation of the Beveridge-style National Pension Insurance, the reform of Labour Insurance, and the divorce split pension system of Civil Servants and Teachers Social Insurance. While modernization has contributed to gender equality by improving women’s education, extending labour force participation, and reducing fertility rates, institutional changes have played a more decisive role in addressing pension disparities. Nevertheless, persistent challenges like occupational sex segregation, wage gaps, and gender stereotypes continue to impact outcomes. Using Taiwanese data (2007–2021) from simulation and the Luxembourg Income Study, the findings show that while pension gaps have narrowed, significant disparities persist. Policymakers must further refine pension system designs to address these inequalities effectively. These challenges reflect broader complexities in gendered pension reforms across Asia, including those seen in Korea and Japan.

Reforms in welfare and employment services entail new operational environments for social work as a profession. Through narrative inquiry and Anthony Giddens’ sociological approach on structures and agency, this study explores social workers’ profession regarding promoting employment. The research question was as follows: how is agency in social workers’ profession regarding the given field of activity depicted in professionals’ narratives in wellbeing service counties? The data consisted of 17 social workers’ interviews at six wellbeing service counties, and underwent narrative analysis regarding agency. Agency in social workers’ profession regarding promoting employment involved two storylines: ‘load of expectations’ and agency as ‘adjustment’; agency was about being and using discretion. Moreover, agency was expressed as flexible in networks and reflexive regarding the norm of employment. Finally, alternatives for hegemonic narratives were exercised through professions’ ethical justifications.

This article examines the impact of armed conflicts on the expansion of old-age pension systems in the Global South. Using new longitudinal data on pension coverage and focusing on 82 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America between 1900 and 2014, the study combines descriptive analyses and logit regressions to assess the timing and likelihood of pension expansion during war and post-war periods. The analysis reveals that the probability of pension expansion increases during and particularly after war. Interestingly, the association is especially robust for civil wars. Post-war pension expansions are typically directed towards dependent workers, while self-employed groups benefit less. The results suggest that governments often use pension reforms as instruments of stabilisation and legitimacy in war-torn societies. The study contributes to comparative welfare research by highlighting the warfare-welfare nexus beyond the Western world and across different types of conflict.