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Are English local authorities' practices on housing and council tax benefit administration meeting race equality requirements?

Aspinall, Peter J., Mitton, Lavinia (2007) Are English local authorities' practices on housing and council tax benefit administration meeting race equality requirements? Critical Social Policy, 27 (3). pp. 381-414. ISSN 0261-0183. (doi:10.1177/0261018307078848) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:2606)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://csp.sagepub.com.chain.kent.ac.uk/content/27...

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which the national and local state are meeting the requirements of race relations legislation in the area of means-tested housing and council tax benefits. Compliance with the prioritized duties is assessed in the context of both the wider issues driving the race equality agenda and more derailed arguments about managerial regimes and the central role of data. Two specific examples are pursued: the capacity to monitor take-up of benefits through an examination of ethnic monitoring on claims forms at different tiers of local government and an evaluation of progress through an analysis of the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's reports. The evidence indicates that compliance with the Act is patchy and piecemeal and that in many local authorities, even the basic building block for assessing impacts, ethnic monitoring of claimants, is not available. Alternative sources are evaluated, including pooled data from government social surveys and eligibility for free school meals, collected in the annual pupil census. Given the evidence for continuing differentials in the incomes of people from minority ethnic groups, prompt action is needed to ensure that race equality is mainstreamed in benefit administration.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/0261018307078848
Uncontrolled keywords: ethnicity; low income; monitoring; race equality; take-up
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Centre for Health Services Studies
Depositing User: Suzanne Duffy
Date Deposited: 01 Apr 2008 08:08 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:41 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/2606 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Aspinall, Peter J..

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Mitton, Lavinia.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7994-6135
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
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