Book Review: Practising welfare rights

It is good to see publishers recognizing, at last, that among the skills that social workers need, in both statutory and voluntary sectors, are the ability to help people maximize their income, challenge decisions of tribunals and counter the widespread pathologization of people in poverty as being inherently incapable, dependent and passive. Beresford and others have sought to legitimize the experience of people in poverty and to show that, however disadvantaged, people have the capacity and desire to change their circumstances for the better (Beresford and Hoban, 2005). Davis and Wainwright (2005) point out how the current framework of social services often results in the serious impoverishment of service users and can be ‘a factor in sustaining the poverty experienced by those using them’ (p. 260). They argue that as a result, social work's potential to change the life chances of the poorest sections of society should be prioritized. , Bateman Neil, London, Routledge/Community Care, 2006, pp. 144, ISBN 0-415-35890-6, 20.99