How do ‘welfare to work’ programmes such as the New Deal take into account and shape people's personal lives? This unit looks at how participation in, and drop-out from, ‘workfare’ programmes are interpreted within different theoretical perspectives, and uses two case studies to connect the theory with the reality of people's lives. This study unit is just one of many that can be found on LearningSpace, part of OpenLearn, a collection of open educational resources from The Open University. Published in ePub 2.0.1 format, some feature such as audio, video and linked PDF are not supported by all ePub readers.