References

• Altreiter, C., & Leibetseder, B. (2015). Constructing inequality: Deserving and undeserving clients in Austrian social assistance offices. Journal of Social Policy, 44(1), 127–145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279414000622
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Boockmann, B., Thomsen, S. L., Walter, T., Gobel, C., & Huber, M. (2015). Should welfare administration be centralized or decentralized? Evidence from a policy experiment. German Economic Review, 16(1), 13–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/geer.12021
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brodkin, E. Z. (2011). Policy work: Street-level organizations under new managerialism. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21(2), i253–i277. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muq093
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brodkin, E. Z. (2021). Discretion in the welfare state. In T. Evans & P. Hupe (Eds.), Discretion and the quest for controlled freedom (pp. 63–78). Palgrave MacMillian.
   Google Scholar
• Carson, E., Chung, D., & Evans, T. (2015). Complexities of discretion in social services in the third sector. European Journal of Social Work, 18(2), 167–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2014.888049
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dunér, A. (2018). Equal or individual treatment: Contesting storylines in needs assessment conversations within Swedish eldercare. European Journal of Social Work, 21(4), 546–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2017.1318831
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Eisenhardt, M. K. (1989). Agency theory: An assessment and review. The Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 57–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/258191
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Erlandsson, S. (2018). Individuella bedömningar eller standardiserade insatser? Kommunala riktlinjers roll i biståndshandläggares arbete [Individual assessments or standardised services? Municipal guidelines’ role in care managers’ work]. In H. Jönson & M. Szebehely (Eds.), Äldreomsorger i Sverige. Lokala variationer och generella trender (pp. 43–58). Gleerups.
   Google Scholar
• Erlingsson, GÓ, Karlsson, D., Wide, J., & Öhrvall, R. (2022). Demokratirådets rapport 2022: Den lokala demokratins vägval [The Council of Democracy Report 2022: The choice of path for the local democracy]. SNS Förlag.
   Google Scholar
• Evans, T. (2011). Professionals, managers and discretion: Critiquing street-level bureaucracy. British Journal of Social Work, 41(2), 368–386. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcq074
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Evans, T. (2013). Organisational rules and discretion in adult social work. British Journal of Social Work, 43(4), 739–758. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcs008
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Government Bill. (1990/91:117). Om en ny kommunallag [About a new local government act]. Regeringen.
   Google Scholar
• Government Bill. (2000/01:80). Ny socialtjänstlag m. m [A new social service act etcetera]. Regeringen.
   Google Scholar
• Haveri, A. (2015). Nordic local government: A success story, but will it last? International Journal of Public Sector Management, 28(2), 136–149. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-09-2014-0118
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hupe, P., & Buffat, A. (2014). A public service gap: Capturing contexts in a comparative approach of street-level bureaucracy. Public Management Review, 16(4), 548–569. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.854401
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(76)90026-X
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jensen, P. H., & Lolle, H. (2013). The fragmented welfare state: explaining local variations in services for older people. Journal of Social Policy, 42(2), 349–370. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279412001006
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ladner, A., Keuffer, N., & Baldersheim, H. (2016). Measuring local autonomy in 39 countries (1990–2014). Regional & Federal Studies, 26(3), 321–357. https://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2016.1214911
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lunder, T. E. (2016). Between centralized and decentralized welfare policy: Have national guidelines constrained the influence of local preferences? European Journal of Political Economy, 41, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2015.11.003
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Maynard-Moody, S., & Musheno, M. (2000). State agent or citizen agent: Two narratives of discretion. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10(2), 329–358. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jpart.a024272
   Google Scholar
• Nilsson, J. (2016). Med makt följer ansvar – Socialtjänstens myndighetsutövning inom LSS och hemtjänst (report IVO 2016–30) [With power comes responsibility; the social services’ exercise of public authority within services for persons with certain functional impairments’ (1993:387) and home care service]. Inspektionen för vård och omsorg [Health and Social Care Inspectorate – IVO].
   Google Scholar
• Olaison, A., Torres, S., & Forssell, E. (2018). Professional discretion and length of work experience: What findings from focus groups with care managers in elder care suggest. Journal of Social Work Practice, 32(2), 153–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2018.1438995
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ranci, C., & Pavolini, E. (2015). Not all that glitters is gold: Long-term care reforms in the last two decades in Europe. Journal of European Social Policy, 25(3), 270–285. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928715588704
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Rauch, D. (2008). Central versus local service regulation: Accounting for diverging old-age care developments in Sweden and Denmark, 1980–2000. Social Policy & Administration, 42(3), 267–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2007.00596.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sandkjær Hanssen, G., & Helgesen, M. K. (2011). Multi-level governance in Norway: Universalism in elderly and mental health care services. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 31(3), 160–172. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443331111120609
   Google Scholar
• SFS. (1999:105). Tryckfrihetsförordningen. Justitiedepartementet [Freedom of the Press Act].
   Google Scholar
• SFS. (2001:453). Socialtjänstlag. Socialdepartementet [Social Services Act].
   Google Scholar
• SFS. (2017:725). Kommunallag. Finansdepartementet [Local Government Act].
   Google Scholar
• Szebehely, M., & Meagher, G. (2018). Nordic eldercare – Weak universalism becoming weaker? Journal of European Social Policy, 28(3), 294–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928717735062
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Szebehely, M., & Trydegård, G.-B. (2007). Omsorgstjänster för äldre och funktionshindrade: skilda villkor, skilda trender? [Care services for the elderly and for disabled persons: Different conditions, different trends?]. Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 2–3, 197–219.
   Google Scholar
• Van der Tier, M., Hermans, K., & Potting, M. (2022). Social workers as state and citizen-agents. How social workers in a German, Dutch and Flemish public welfare organisation manage this dual responsibility in practice. Journal of Social Work, 22(3), 595–614. https://doi.org/10.1177/14680173211009724
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wenander, H. (2019). Olagligt, olämpligt, ogiltigt: Förutsättningar för prövning av nulliteter i svensk förvaltningsrätt [Illegal, inappropriate, invalid: Prerequisites for trial of non-existing decisions within Swedish administrative law]. In H. N. Tøssebro (Ed.), Ugyldighet i forvaltningsretten (pp. 112–125). Universitetsforlaget.
   Google Scholar
• Wittberg, S., & Taghizadeh Larsson, A. (2021). Hur avgränsas det kommunala ansvaret för att tillgodose äldres behov i kommunala riktlinjer? [How do local guidelines delimit the municipal responsibility to meet the needs of older people?]. Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, 28, 269–288.
   Google Scholar