The history of social policy is emerging as an area of growing interest to both students and researchers. This topical book charts the period from the 1830s to the present day, providing a fresh analysis of the relationship between social theory and social policy in the UK. Different ideas about the means and aims of social policy suggested by Individualists, Idealists, and Fabian Socialists are examined in depth and their impacts on the world of social policy reassessed. Special consideration is given to the history of ideas in relation to informal care and voluntary action, as well as action by the state. An Intellectual History of British Social Policy provides a valuable framework that exposes many of the assumptions about the nature of welfare and its future direction while reconsidering and challenging many long-held beliefs about the evolution of social policy.