Costs and Benefits: A Review of Research on Take-up of Income-Related Benefits

Abstract

This paper reviews recent research on take-up with a view to identifying the most promising lines of further enquiry. In the late 1970s take-up research seemed to be foundering in the face of the complexity of the factors affecting claiming decisions. Progress came via the development of models of the claiming process. The most influential postulated a series of thresholds which claimants must pass in a set sequence on the way to claiming a benefit. One question for future research is whether this model is still the best starting point or whether there are others which capture the key factors and their interaction more fully and accurately. Another approach is to look at claiming decisions indirectly by applying multivariate techniques to continuous survey data to examine the relationship between variables such as age, income and housing tenure and differing probabilities of claiming. A second question is what the two approaches can offer each other. Overhanging all the issues facing takeup research is the problem of sampling a population-eligible nonrecipients-for which, almost by definition, no suitable sampling frame exists. The paper concludes by examining various options for identifying this elusive group.

Take-Up Rates and Trade Offs After the Age of Entitlement: Some Thoughts and Empirical Evidence for Child Care Subsidies

“…10 An eligible family will only use a program if the expected benefits of using the program exceed the fixed costs (transaction costs and stigma) of applying for the program. For example, as reported by Craig (1991), the mean benefit awarded under the British Family Income Supplement program was 11.7 British Pounds Sterling, while the mean unclaimed benefit was 8.9…”

“…As noted by Craig (1991), there may be a lag in the take up of social benefits, even after families realize that taking them would be advantageous. This is due to the time it takes to learn about the program, to apply and to be accepted.…”

“…Specifically, recent surveys indicate that take-up rates range from 43% for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program to 99% for Medicare Part A. Take-up rates also vary as a result of using different estimation methodologies. For example, the estimated take-up rate for programs such as AFDC, Food Stamps and Medicaid, while consistently above 45%, shows a 20% to 25% variation across studies depending on methodologies used (Craig, 1991; Remler, Rachlin and Giled, 2001; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001).In recent years, researchers have reported take-up rates for child care subsidies that are substantially below the rates typically found for other social welfare programs. Why is the take-up rate for child care subsidies so much lower than the take-up rate for other social welfare programs?…”

“…Specifically, recent surveys indicate that take-up rates range from 43% for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program to 99% for Medicare Part A. Take-up rates also vary as a result of using different estimation methodologies. For example, the estimated take-up rate for programs such as AFDC, Food Stamps and Medicaid, while consistently above 45%, shows a 20% to 25% variation across studies depending on methodologies used (Craig, 1991;Remler, Rachlin and Giled, 2001; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). …”

Une approche de la pauvreté par le non-recours aux droits sociaux

“…D'abord considéré presque exclusivement sur le plan de l'usager (Kerr, 1982 †;Corden, 1987 †;Whyley et Huby, 1996), le phénomène de nontake-up -désignant initialement une non-utilisation volontaire de ressources publiques par des usagers informés, rationnels et calculateurs -a peu à peu pris des dimensions institutionnelles liées à la complexité des législations et des fonctionnements administratifs. Des chercheurs s'inscrivant dans la mouvance des approches néo-institutionnalistes ont ainsi introduit ces variables pour sortir la question du non-take-up de l'approche behavioriste initiale (Craig, 1991 †;Van Oorshot, 1995).…”