Politics, Organisation and Environment–Influences on the Exercise of Administrative Discretion within the Housing Benefit Scheme

Abstract

The housing benefit scheme, introduced in 1982/3, accoided local councils sole responsibility for administering rent and rate rebates to occupants of rented housing.¹ Implementation of the scheme, a blend of centrally defined rules and discretionary powers, has been widely criticised as slow, error-prone and inconsistent, ‘Erskine 1983; Fielding 1983; Kemp 1984), leading the Secretary of State for Social Services to establish a review of the scheme's administration, which reported in June 1985.² This paper examines two local authorities’ exercise of certain discretionary powers, using data gathered during fieldwork conducted in 1986, and attempts to analyse the factors influencing the procedural and substantive conduct of the councils' activities.