The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the annual Social Policy Review even more critical than before.

This comprehensive volume addresses critical debates throughout the international social policy field over the past year with a key focus on responses to COVID-19 and implications for social policy. Expert contributors address important issues including foodbanks, caring for older family members, lockdowns around the globe, gender, technology and migration during a pandemic.

Published in association with the Social Policy Association, this annual review is fundamental reading for students and academics in social policy, social welfare and related disciplines.

Marco Pomati is Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences and Research Methods at Cardiff University.

James Rees is Reader at the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton.

Andy Jolly is Research Fellow in the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton.

Part 1: COVID-19: Responses and Implications for Social Policy

Introduction: Responses and implications for Social Policy - Marco Pomati and James Rees

1. Locked Down or Locked In? Institutionalized Public Preferences and Government Pandemic Response in 32 Countries - Hung H.V. Nguyen, Nate Breznau and Lisa Heukamp

2. New directions for European Union social policy in challenging times - Carla Valadas

3. Lesson-drawing for the UK Government during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a comparison of official, media and academic lenses - Sophie King-Hill, Ian Greener and Martin Powell

4. On the periphery of the global spotlight: Swedens social policy responses during the COVID-19 pan-demic - Jayeon Lindellee

5. Social Policies Put to Test by the Pandemic: Food Banks as an Indicator of the Insufficiencies and Paradoxes of Contemporary Social Policies - Jean-Michel Bonvin, Max Lovey, Emilie Rosenstein and Pierre Kempeneers

6. "We have been left to go it alone The wellbeing of family carers of older people under Covid-19 - Cheshire-Allen M. and Gideon Calder

7. Gender crisis, or not? A comparative analysis of the impact on gender equality in Sweden and Germany due to the Covid-19 pandemic - Marlene Haupt and Viola Lind

8. Older adults access to information and referral service using technology in British Columbia, Canada: Past learnings and learnings since COVID-19 - Karen Lok Yi Wong, Andrew Sixsmith andd Leslie Remund

9. The pandemic as a litmus test for social security systems in transition economies a case of Georgia - Ana Diakonidze

Part 2: Migration

Introduction - Andy Jolly

10. All of the same type? The use of welfare tourism to limit the access of EU migrants to social benefits in the UK and Germany - Angie Gago

11. Where is the vulnerability assessment tool? Disabled asylum seekers in Direct Provision in Ireland and the EU (recast) Reception Conditions Directive (2013/33/EU) - Keelin Barry

12. Re-thinking exclusionary policies: the case of irregular migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe - Marie Mallet and Nicola Delvino