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What is the current ratio of Work Coaches; case managers, and decision makers to Universal Credit households (nationally).
Is it just me, or does that say there are a thousand households on UC per case manager?
It looks that way doesn’t it - in fact over 1,100 - and 361 households per work coach!
I realise some households won’t need work coaches but some will need two!
Then there is the lack of decision makers…..........
That’s because it’s all done by the computer ;) - interesting article here -
Smooth Operators, Predictable Glitches: The Interface Governance of Benefits and Borders
That’s because it’s all done by the computer ;) - interesting article here -
Smooth Operators, Predictable Glitches: The Interface Governance of Benefits and Borders
Isn’t it just. Very interesting article
Some nuggets….
‘Governments often introduce interfaces…to improve efficiency and increase digital literacy, but interfaces regularly fall short of these goals. Instead they encourage officials to shift responsibility away from themselves while imposing a unique type of responsiblization [sic] on members of the public’
‘Beyond merely offloading responsibility from the state to the individual, interfaces require people to be routinely accessible, to enter new data about themselves, and to reply to interface prompts.’
‘Interfaces seem more likely to confound than empower.. [intensifying]the scrutiny that individuals experience…while frustrating their attempts to be “heard” by their scrutinizers.’
‘Interfaces, by their design, reverse and even occlude accountability relations between the state and the public….[people are] perpetual “applicants” rather than “rights holders”.’
‘UC’s digital account…obscure[s] who or what is hearing the data on the other side of the interface.’
‘Claimants may use the interface’s journal to raise their questions to the DWP. It is unclear, though, who (or what) answers these questions.’
UC is a case where government has ‘digitalize[d] in a setting ‘ where they have also defunded and contracted out some service elements and offloaded others onto local governments and charities….DWP rarely helps individuals navigate the program’s interface, [so claimants] rely on outside agencies and family members for assistance. Claimants must therefore become experts in navigating the wide web of actors beyond DWP who might help them.’