Spatial Divisions of Welfare: The Geography of Welfare Benefit Expenditure and Housing Benefit in Britain

Abstract

This paper examines the structure of state welfare expenditure in Britain. It argues that the geography of state welfare expenditure and its impacts have been relatively neglected given their importance in terms of state expenditure, regional distribution and spatial equality. It shows that welfare spending is a key component of government expenditure and that it has a distinct regional and local geography. It shows that there are distinct differences in the geographical incidence of different welfare benefits some of which function to redistribute income from the South to the North of Britain and it focuses on the geography of housing benefit as an example of what has been termed ‘spatial divisions of Welfare’.