The impact of United Kingdom welfare policies upon opportunities for participation in all types of post-16 learning by those receiving welfare benefits differ by age, employment status, and mode of study. A key issue is whether welfare policies help low-skilled people who are not in work to participate in learning, or whether rules and regulations act as barriers to those already economically and educationally at a disadvantage. The policy objective of government is to raise productivity by investing in the skills of the workforce, particularly those of low-skilled workers. An analysis of policy finds that the following groups are currently eligible to receive welfare benefits: young people, people receiving income support, people receiving incapacity benefit, pensioners on low incomes, people seeking work, people receiving Jobseeker's Allowance, people on the New Deals, employed people on welfare benefits, and people receiving tax credits. Findings suggest that the government's encouragement of unemployed young people to take up full-time education, training, or work with training rather than work without training is successful, but that the "work first" emphasis for unemployed adults is problematic. Measures should be created that enable all unemployed people to learn full-time in order to obtain skills and become more employable. (Contains seven references.) (MO)