Frontline managers' perceptions and justifications of behavioural conditionality

Sadeghi, Talieh; Terum, Lars Inge

doi:10.1111/spol.12574

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The same perspective is identified at a range of political parties that support mandatory activation based on human capital and paternalistic concerns (Eriksen & Molander, 2018). Both NAV managers (Sadeghi & Terum, 2020) and caseworkers (Gjersøe, Leseth, & Vilhena, 2019;Terum, Torsvik, & Øverbye, 2017) express the same positive and 'caring' approach. These findings differ from international studies (Watts & Fitzpatrick, 2018, p. 99), suggesting thus the need for a broader understanding of sanctions in welfare policy.…”

Section: Social Assistance In Norwaymentioning

confidence: 86%

Is it because you can’t, or don’t want to? The implementation of frontline sanctions in Norwegian social assistance

Vilhena

2020

European Journal of Social Work

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Welfare conditionality, particularly stringent benefit sanctions, has become increasingly prevalent in Western welfare states in recent decades. Although mandatory activation has received great attention in research, the need for further studies on the implementation of frontline sanctions has become evident, mainly where enabling measures are concerned. This article contributes to frontline and deservingness literature, examining how caseworkers cope with non-compliance cases and which deservingness assessments they invoke, in the Norwegian social assistance. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with caseworkers at a Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) office, this study shows how caseworkers informally construct a typology of non-compliance cases: 'unreachable', 'incapable' and 'unwilling'. The way caseworkers perceive the client's attitude, level of need and control over neediness seem to be decisive in distinguishing between cases. Caseworkers display a tendency to attribute non-compliance to incapability, which leads them to renegotiate activation requirements. As such, caseworkers' deservingness assessments seem to shape sanctioning practices. Based on these findings, this article argues for a more nuanced understanding of frontline sanctions. SAMMENDRAGDe siste tiårene har aktivitetsplikt og sanksjonsregimer blitt et viktig kjennetegn ved velferdsstater. Aktivering har fått mye oppmerksomhet i velferdsforskning, men hvordan sanksjoner ved brudd på aktivitetskrav iverksettes i frontlinjen har vaert mindre studert. Artikkelen undersøker hvordan NAV-veiledere håndterer brudd på aktivitetskravet i sosialhjelp og hvordan deres oppfatninger av deservingness bidrar til å kategoriserer sosialhjelpsmottakerne. Funnene fra feltarbeid og intervjuer med veiledere i et NAV kontor viser at veiledere konstruerer en uformell typologi: 'utilgjengelig', 'kan ikke', 'vil ikke'. Måten veiledere oppfatter brukernes holdning, behovsnivå, og kontroll over egen situasjon på, virker avgjørende for hvordan de kategoriserer slike situasjoner. Veiledere tenderer til å oppfatte at brukerne 'ikke kan', for deretter å forhandle om hvorvidt aktivitetskravene bør endres. På denne måten er veilederes oppfatninger av deservingness med på å forme sanksjonspraksis. Denne artikkelen argumenterer for en mer nyansert forståelse av sanksjonering i frontlinjen.

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Section: Social Assistance In Norwaymentioning

confidence: 86%

Is it because you can’t, or don’t want to? The implementation of frontline sanctions in Norwegian social assistance

Vilhena

2020

European Journal of Social Work

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“…The act's several mitigation clauses leave rather substantial room for caseworkers' discretionary power. Previous studies from Norway indicated that managers and caseworkers use their discretionary power in the implementation of conditionality and sanctions (Gjersøe et al, 2020;Sadeghi & Terum, 2020).…”

Section: Legal and Institutional Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

The will to sanction: How sensitive are caseworkers to recipients’ responsibility when imposing sanctions on non‐compliance in a welfare‐to‐work programme?

Torsvik

Molander²,

Terum³

2021

Int J Soc Welfare

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The activation trend in social policy entails that caseworkers on the frontlines of the welfare state are expected to decide ‘reasonable’ activation requirements for clients and when and how non‐compliance should be sanctioned. This study investigates how caseworkers form judgements about their clients’ personal responsibility when activation requirements are violated and how their judgements about responsibility matter for the sanctions they impose. We find that caseworkers are sensitive to personal responsibility, varying the motivation for not fulfilling the activation requirement from a case where the client has less control (circumstances) to one with more control (choice) more than doubles sanctions.

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“…Aquí las sanciones son mucho más reducidas y se aplican de forma discrecional por los profesionales, con una concepción pedagógica, de forma suave, evitando la desprotección, y orientadas por el mejor interés del usuario. Las actividades y el empleo se entienden positivas para el mantenimiento o la potenciación del capital humano (Sadeghi y Terum, 2020) En lo que sigue mostraremos, a partir del caso navarro, cómo las políticas de integración de servicios sociales y de empleo gradualistas en el ámbito subestatal pueden ir también asociadas a concepciones de la activación más cercanas a este modelo socialdemócrata, incluso en un contexto estatal propio del modelo mediterráneo, como es el caso de España.…”

Section: Las Lecciones Del Análisis De Las Experiencias Europeasunclassified

La integración de servicios sociales y de empleo en el debate entre protección y activación

Navarro

Martínez

2021

PapRevSoc

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The integration of social and employment services into the debate between protection and activationThe integration of social services is one of the main ways of reforming the Welfare State promoted in Europe. These reforms are aimed at avoiding the fragmentation of social protection systems and providing more effective responses to the needs of the most vulnerable people. Regarding social and employment services, integration reforms also aims to strengthen the activation of social benefit recipients and opens the debate on the effects of lack of social protection and control that it may imply. The reforms have had different scope and orientation in each country. The aim of this article is to explore the potentialities and limitations of service integration in Spain, deepening the analysis of the reforms undertaken in the region of Navarre. This case shows the viability of a reform aimed at strengthening social protection for the most vulnerable sectors while reinforcing activation mechanisms and social and labour market inclusion processes, thus calling into question the supposed opposition between the two dynamics. In this respect, the integrated delivery of social and employment services and the introduction of a person-centered intervention model, which was made through the ERSISI pilot project, have played a fundamental role.

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Frontline managers' perceptions and justifications of behavioural conditionality

Cited by 18 publications

References 33 publications

Is it because you can’t, or don’t want to? The implementation of frontline sanctions in Norwegian social assistance

Is it because you can’t, or don’t want to? The implementation of frontline sanctions in Norwegian social assistance

The will to sanction: How sensitive are caseworkers to recipients’ responsibility when imposing sanctions on non‐compliance in a welfare‐to‐work programme?

La integración de servicios sociales y de empleo en el debate entre protección y activación

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