School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies

Profile

Expertise

Professor Finn has written extensively on labour market programmes, reform of public employment services and the implementation of welfare to work strategies. He has a particular research interest in the role that third and private sector organisations are now playing in delivering welfare to work programmes and has completed comparative studies of such developments in Australia, the USA and the Netherlands. Throughout his career Dan has undertaken, supervised, and managed a broad range of research projects, and has generated substantial grant income. He has extensive research and policy contacts in Europe, the USA and Australia and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Melbourne.

Other Roles

Professor Finn is an Associate Director at the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, an independent, not-for-profit organisation (see www.cesi.org.uk ).  Inclusion plays a significant role in the UK in undertaking applied research, disseminating best practice, providing policy advice to government and NGOs, and in working with peer European and international networks. This work involves also direct policy development, including briefings and formal presentations for Ministers, civil servants and other policy makers on emerging research findings and international best practice.

Between 1997 and 2009 Professor Finn also acted as a Special Advisor on twelve inquiries undertaken by the House of Commons' Education and Employment Committee and Work and Pensions Committee. He has been also a member of many advisory groups, such as the Social Exclusion Unit's 'Jobs Policy Action Team’, the New Deal Task Force and the National Employment Panel.

Recent Publications

• The ‘Welfare Market’ and the Flexible New Deal: Lessons from other countries (2009), Local Economy, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp 51-58, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• The ‘Welfare Market’: the role of the private sector in the delivery of benefits and employment services (2009), in Millar J. (ed) Understanding social security (Second edition): Issues for policy and practice, Policy Press, Bristol
• Differential Pricing in Contracted Out Employment Programmes: Review of International Evidence (2009), Research Report, Department for Work and Pensions, London
• Welfare Markets: lessons from contracting out the delivery of welfare to work programmes in Australia and the Netherlands (2008), Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York
• Poverty and service delivery: benefits, tax credits and employment services (2008), with Mason D., Rahim N. and Casebourne J., Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York
• Workfare und ‘Sozialhilfe zu Arbeit’: Lehren aus Großbritannien (2008), in Eichhorst W. and Schneider H. (eds) Umsetzung des Workfare-Ansatzes im BMWi-Modell für eine existenzsichernde Beschäftigung,  IZA Research Report No. 18, Institute  for the Study of Labor, Bonn
• Activation Policies in Great Britain (2008), with Schulte B., in Eichhorst W., Konle-Seidl R. and Kaufmann O, Bringing the Jobless into Work? Experiences with Activation Schemes in Europe and the US, Springer,  Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
• Contracting Out Welfare to Work in the USA: Delivery Lessons (2007), Research Report No. 466, Department for Work and Pensions, London
• The ‘Wicked Problems’ of British Cities: Unemployment, Inactivity and Welfare to Work (2007), with Atkinson R. and Crawford A, in Donzelot J. (ed) Ville, City, Violence and Social Dependency, CEDOV Centre d'Etude, de Documentation et d'Observation sur les Villes, La Documentation francaise, Paris
• Welfare to Work: New Labours ‘Employment First’ Welfare State (2005), Benefits: A Journal of Social Security Research, Policy and Practice, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp 93-97, the Policy Press, Bristol
• ‘The role of contracts and the private sector in delivering Britain’s ‘employment first’ welfare state’ (2005), in Sol E. and Westerveld M. (eds) Contractualism in Employment Services: A New Form of Welfare State Governance, Kluwer Law International, Aspen Publishers, pp 101-117,  ISBN 9041124055
• The National Minimum Wage in the United Kingdom (2005) Graue Reihe des Instituts Arbeit und Technik 2005-01, Gelsenkirchen
• The ‘Employment First’ Welfare State: lessons from the New Deal for Young People (2003), Social Policy and Administration, vol. 38 no. 4, Dec, pp 709-724, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford
• Getting Jobs and Moving On: lessons from Britain’s ‘Employment First Welfare State’ (2005), refereed conference paper, Transitions and Risk: New Directions in Social Policy Conference, Centre for Public Policy, University of Melbourne, 23-25 February
• Reinventing the Public Employment Service: The Changing Role of Employment  Assistance in Great Britain and Germany (2004), with Knuth M., Schweer O. and Somerville W., Anglo German Foundation, Berlin and London
• Financial support for 16 to 19 year olds: A review of the literature and evidence on the Australian Youth Allowance (2004), with Branosky N., Department for Work and Pensions, London
• Employment First: Improving Australia's Employment Service and Job Network (2004), with Considine M., Chifley Research Centre, Canberra
• The 'Employment First' Welfare State: lessons from the New Deal for Young People (2003), Social Policy and Administration, Vol. 38 No. 4, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford
• Intermediate Labour Markets in Britain and an International Review of Transitional Employment Programmes (2003), with Simmonds D., Department for Work and Pensions, London