This report examines trends in social investment in England following the financial crisis of 2007/8. The first section considers social investment in relation to four policy arenas: housing, financial services, early childhood education and care, and water. The second part of the report provides an overview of social investment and disinvestment trends in the healthcare system in England since the 1990s with a particular focus on mental health services. This section includes a detailed account of service users’ and professionals’ experiences of the impact of liberalisation and austerity measures on mental health service delivery drawing on qualitative data collection. Throughout the report we identify policy recommendations to address the effects and impacts of emergent trends towards social disinvestment and liberalisation of public services. This study is part of the wider pan-European RE-InVEST project to investigate the impact of the EU Social Investment package on marginalised groups since the 2007 crisis.@en

This report aims at: (a) providing an overview of the European policy framework for health services; (b) providing a comparative analysis of this service market across the EU; and (c) performing a comparative analysis of the situations and trends in the health care sector in the eight RE-InVEST countries, so as to identify the approaches they take to health care. Finally, we provide some policy recommendations, in order to develop a rights-based/capability-oriented approach to health care. This report mixes qualitative and quantitative research methods. First, we analyse the scientific literature and policy documents (especially documents drafted by EU institutions). Second, we perform a quantitative analysis of relevant indicators from a variety of data sets.@en