Justifications for not sanctioning welfare clients: Social workers' implementation of the “wastage of resources” sanctioning directive in Poland

Abstract

AbstractSanctioning welfare clients has become a fundamental practice for social policy based on behavioural conditionality. Although sanctioning practices have received attention in research focused on street‐level work, the way in which sanctioning practices are structured in an institutional context and used by caseworkers should be explored further. This study examines the implementation of the “wastage of resources” sanctioning directive in Polish social welfare offices, based on interviews with social workers and case studies conducted between 2019 and 2021. A research framework based on the street‐level work concept was used to indicate that sanctions were rarely used by social workers because of the administrative justification process, which overwhelmed them with the responsibility of proving sanction‐worthy circumstances. Catalogues of sanction‐worthy situations are developed by local‐level policy agents, social workers, welfare office managers, municipal courts and clients. However, generally, social workers adapt to the given context by disciplining clients informally and avoiding formal sanctions.