Violent bureaucracy: A critical analysis of the British public employment service. (May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Redman, Jamie; Fletcher, Del Roy
• Is Part Of: Critical social policy. Volume 42:Number 2(2022)
• Page Start: 306
• Page End: 326
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Subjects: employment services -- institutional violence -- street-level bureaucracy -- welfare reform; Welfare economics -- Periodicals; Socialism -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Social policy -- 1979- -- Periodicals; 361.94105
• DOI: 10.1177/02610183211001766
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-0183

Abstract

Between 2010–2015, the Coalition's pursuit of a radical austerity programme saw Britain's Jobcentre Plus experience some of the most punitive reforms and budget cuts in its history. Focusing on the outcomes of these reforms, a growing body of research has found that claiming processes became a more 'institutionally violent' and injurious experience for out-of-work benefit claimants. The present article draws upon ideas, developed by Bauman (1989), which focus on the processes that facilitate 'institutional violence'. We use this framework to analyse ten interviews with front-line workers and managers in public/contractor employment services. In doing so, we expose an array of policy tools and hidden managerial methods used during the Coalition administration which encouraged front-line staff to deliver services in ways that led to a range of harmful outcomes for benefit claimants.