Dr Kate Andersen

Profile

Areas of expertise

• Welfare reform
• Welfare conditionality and sanctions
• Gender and citizenship
• Qualitative longitudinal research

Academic biography

My research explores the intended and unintended consequences of new social security policies. I am especially interested in investigating how government justifications for welfare reforms compare with the everyday realities of affected claimants. My research particularly focuses on how welfare reforms impact people who are already marginalised in society. I find qualitative longitudinal approaches particularly useful for analysing changes to the social security system, and for observing how people experience, manage, and are impacted by, change.  

In 2015 I joined the school as a master's student and went on to complete a PhD which investigated the implications of the conditionality within Universal Credit for women's citizenship. This explored how the new conditionality regime affects mothers' unpaid caring roles, their position in the paid labour market and their agency. My interest in social security policies stems from experiences prior to joining the department of teaching children and adults living in poverty in the UK, the US, Kenya and Malawi.  

I am currently working on the Family Finances project (a comparative evaluation of the Scottish Child Payment), the Safety Nets project (an exploration into the devolution of social security within the UK) and the Benefit Changes and Larger Families project (an investigation into the impacts of the two-child limit and the benefit cap on larger families).

Research

Current research interests and projects

Family Finances

A mixed-methods comparative evaluation of the Scottish Child Payment. A collaboration between the University of York, LSE and CPAG. Funded by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

Safety Nets

A major project exploring the extent of the devolution of social security within the UK and the realities, risks, and opportunities this poses for families with dependent children. A collaboration between seven universities, CPAG and the Resolution Foundation. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

Safety nets website

Benefit Changes and Larger Families

A mixed-methods project investigating the impacts of the two-child limit and the benefit cap on families with three or more children. A collaboration between the Universities of York, Oxford and LSE, working in partnership with CPAG. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

Benefit Changes and Larger Families website

Publications

Recent publications

Andersen, K., Redman, J., Stewart, K. and Patrick, R., 2024. ‘It's the kids that suffer’: Exploring how the UK's benefit cap and two‐child limit harm children. Social Policy & Administration (eprint ahead of publication).

Andersen, K., 2024. Social Security, Gender and Class: The impacts of the Universal Credit Conditionality Regime on Unpaid Care and Paid Work. Social Policy and Society (eprint ahead of publication).

Andersen, K., 2023. Welfare that works for women? Mothers' experiences of the conditionality within Universal Credit. Bristol: Policy Press.

Andersen, K., 2023. Promoting fairness? Exploring the gendered impacts of the benefit cap and the two-child limit. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice.

Reeves, R., Andersen, K., Reader, M. and Warnock, R.,2023. Social security, exponential inequalities and Covid-19: How welfare reform in the UK left larger families exposed to the scarring effects of the pandemic. In S. Atrey and S. Fredman [Eds]: Exponential inequalities: Equality law in times of crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Patrick, R. and Andersen, K., 2022. The two‐child limit and fertility decision making: When policy narratives and lived experiences collide. Social Policy & Administration, 57(5), pp.580-595..

Reader, R. and Andersen, K. 2022. Size matters: Experiences of larger families on a low income during COVID-19. In K. Garthwaite, R. Patrick, M. Power, A. Tarrant and R. Warnock [Eds]: COVID-19 Collaborations. Bristol: Policy Press.

Andersen, K., 2020. Universal Credit, gender and unpaid childcare: Mothers’ accounts of the new welfare conditionality regime. Critical Social Policy, 40(3), pp.430-449.