Forecasts suggest that unemployment will remain above 2 million in Britain for the best part of the 1980s. The social consequences of protracted high levels of unemployment are explored. The evidence comes from four types of source: cross-sectional surveys of (unemployed) individuals; longitudinal and cohort studies; aggregrate time series; and area-based studies. The advantages and limitations of each are identified. The available evidence on the consequences of unemployment for poverty; health and mortality; mental health; crime and delinquency; and the social fabric is reviewed. The implications for policy and public expenditure are explored.

Intra-familial income distribution and the new economics of the family are discussed and questions raised concerning the distribution of income and expenditure within families. Using data from the Family Expenditure Survey 1977 for couples, the incomes and expenditures of the man and the woman are analysed. While incomes are generally highly unequal and expenditures on certain commodities are heavily concentrated on one partner, expendtiure patterns bore no clear relationship to the relative shares of the man and the woman in total income.

The problem over the use of accident and emergency departments is portrayed in terms of a typical conflict between professional and lay needs. However, in contrast with the more common image of the professional hospital doctor successfully developing both structural and interactional strategies for maintaining professional dominance over the patient, it is argued that the structural characteristics of the accident and emergency department pose control problems for the profession. These control problems have been exacerbated by developments in other areas of the health service and have led to the development of policies which emphasize both clinical and social elements of patient need. Although there is apparent recognition by providers of the importance of taking into account patient need, the proposed policies are based on professional images of how patients ‘ought’ to use the service. What is clearly lacking is comprehensive data on how the public and the community wishes to use the service and how they actually use the service. Data from national and local studies on patient felt needs and patient demand for the hospital accident and emergency departments are presented and the implications for policy are discussed.

Research into the non-claiming of supplementary pensions and related means-tested benefits has indicated that there are six general cognitive factors which can be used to explain the phenomenon. However, previous research has been hindered by both conceptual and methodological problems. This paper presents the results of a feasibility study designed to construct and to determine the empirical validity of a cognitive model incorporating these six factors which would account for differential claiming. Substantive research findings are discussed as are the assumptions underlying the model.

This note describes a recent investigation carried out by the Northern Ireland Fair Employment Agency into the employment practices and policies of Cookstown Council. The evidence from this investigation is used to illustrate and discuss briefly aspects of social policy analyses of Northern Ireland, the prospects for returning powers to local government, and the work of the Fair Employment Agency. Finally, some contrasts are made with anti-discrimination policy in Britain.