The rise of social protection into the limelight of social policy has opened up space for understanding how it can act as a key interface between states and citizens. This paper rethinks social protection through the lens of citizenship. It considers how the design and implementation of social protection can be shifted away from discretionary and technocratic forms, to forms which stimulate vulnerable citizens to make justice-based claims for their rights and demand accountability for the realisation of those rights. It puts forward a conceptual framework for social protection with three modalities through which citizens can be engaged: as shapers and makers, as users and choosers, and as passive consumers.