Devolving digitalisation: local government, local welfare and the digital welfare state
Bennett, H. and Meers, J. (2025), ‘Devolving digitalisation: local government, local welfare and the digital welfare state’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 47(2-3) 356-373.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2025.2530878
Abstract
There is increasing interest in examining the digital welfare state. To date, much ethical and analytical scrutiny of digital welfare has focused on the large, nation-state level initiatives of digital transformation, with less attention given to what is happening in local government, especially in the UK. This is despite local authorities playing an essential role in citizen-state relations, and their increasing (yet uneven) move towards an ‘interface first’ governance for the provision of local services. This article has three key purposes. First, to outline the increasing importance of one field of local government activity that raises demands for digitalisation of processes: local welfare (such as discretionary and local welfare assistance). Where local government has the burden for the design and delivery of policy – as with local welfare – this comes with tied responsibility for the design and delivery of digitalisation of these processes. Second, to outline the variations of local welfare administration and reflect on the role of digital interfaces in this context. To do so, we draw on examples from commissioned funding through the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and local government. Finally, building on the arguments throughout the article, we set out areas for future research in local digital welfare provision.
In a nutshell
Work on the digital welfare state has concentrated on large national schemes, and on Universal Credit above all. Local government has gone largely unexamined, despite administering the discretionary support people turn to in a crisis. Council Tax Support, Discretionary Housing Payments, Local Welfare Assistance and the Household Support Fund together account for around a billion pounds a year.
This article makes the case for taking local digitalisation seriously. Local authorities are moving towards an ‘interface first’ approach to their services, but unevenly, and with very different budgets and technical capacity behind them. As a result, whether an application for crisis support is straightforward or forbidding depends a good deal on where the applicant happens to live.
The pattern is a familiar one in social security, where the difficult and discretionary work is devolved while the simpler business stays central. Digitalisation is now following the same route.
Read the paper
The accepted manuscript is already deposited in White Rose Research Online, so a green open access route exists. Link to it, and host a copy here if the T&F terms allow.
Suggested citation
Bennett, H. and Meers, J. (2025), ‘Devolving digitalisation: local government, local welfare and the digital welfare state’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 47(2-3) 356-373. https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2025.2530878