Comparative social policy analysis has been shaped by the measurement of policy as a macro phenomenon. However social policy theories have consistently asserted that policy entitlements vary across class, gender, ethnicity and the life course. This paper synthesises a number of innovations to produce an approach which allows researchers to explore the policy heterogeneity within populations, across populations and over time. Using the example of maternity and parental leave, policy entitlements are identified through the calculation of financial support an individual would receive if they were to have a child, using a combination of legislative rules with representative survey sample. The results reveal far greater heterogeneity in policy entitlements than existing indicators suggest, with considerable implications for research on maternity and parental leave. This approach is not limited to maternity and parental leave benefits and demonstrates a way to explore comparative social policy in greater depth and detail.

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In order to investigate and compare welfare states or specific welfare programmes, scientists, opinion‐makers and politicians rely on indicators. As many of the concepts or objects studied are somewhat abstract, these indicators can often only be approximations. In comparative welfare‐state research, scholars have suggested several approximating indicators to quantitatively measure and compare the generosity of public welfare provision, with a special focus on cash benefits. These indicators include social spending, social rights and benefit receipt. We present these indicators systematically, and critically discuss how suitable they are for comparing the generosity of parenting leave policies in developed welfare states. Subsequently, we illustrate how the operationalisation of leave generosity by means of different indicators can lead to different rankings, interpretations and qualifications of countries. Hence, indicator choices have to be considered carefully and suitably justified, depending on the actual research interest.

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The rEUsilience project is concerned with labour market changes and how these changes affect the abilityof families to balance income security and care. We consider families as agents who respond to thesechallenges to cushion potentially negative impacts. In the project, we try to understand what are theconditions that support family resilience. The specific questions for the rEUsilience project are:What challenges and difficulties are created or exacerbated for families by labour markets in the‘new world of work’ and how do families try to overcome these?How do social policies contribute to familial resilience especially in terms of the extent to whichthey are inclusive, flexible and complementary?The concept of resilience is increasingly used in EU and national policy making. Yet, empirical foundationfor monitoring social policies and their ability to strengthen family resilience is currently lacking. Thisdeliverable builds a groundwork for development of tools for monitoring family resilience in the contextof social policy. The first step we take is a construction of family profiles and analyse them on thedistribution of risks, resources, and socio-economic outcomes.