One-stop shops: Increasing employability and overcoming welfare state fragmentation?

The fragmentation of social security systems has emerged as a policy problem in Western Europe, resulting in the emergence of integrated service models, for example so-called one-stop shops. Bridging several policy domains, integrated services can be assumed to affect the institutional structure of benefits and services, such as entitlement criteria, target groups or governance processes. This article focuses on integrated service models that provide benefits and services to unemployed people who are receiving either social assistance or unemployment compensation. Recent reforms in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK are analysed from both an organisational and a labour market perspective. The analysis shows that integrated service provision entails the risk of introducing stricter work conditionality for broad and vulnerable groups without fulfilling the promises of seamless services.