Delivering Public Services—Mechanisms and Consequences: Discretion and Inconsistency: Implementing the Social Fund

The Social Fund relies on officials to judge the merits of applications for assistance within a closely circumscribed framework of directions and guidance. Variations in the treatment of cases are inevitable in such a framework. However, the variations are not readily explicable in terms of the circumstances, or needs, of the applicants. This article outlines the complex interplay of financial constraints, management targets and other pressures, describing a system akin to a game in which not all rules are known to all players, producing results that could not have been intended.