Beneficiaries appraisal of supplementary assistance

Abstract

The problem for study was formulated after reading The Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (1972, Chapter 23), which specified various criticisms that had been made of supplementary assistance. The study problem is whether beneficiaries feel discouraged from, and in, applying for supplementary assistance and what form this discouragement takes if it is present. The approach is to study client attitudes and opinions about supplementary assistance. Research and literature on client appraisal of social services and especially of social security services, is discussed. Co-operation from the Department of Social Welfare was obtained to gain access to sample material. The proposed methodology was to compare two matched groups: one group on supplementary assistance and domestic purposes benefit; the other group on domestic purposes benefit only. However, the Department was unable to match the groups and instead a random sample of domestic purposes beneficiaries was selected from a Department of Social Welfare district office area. This led to a reorientation of the study; it became a descriptive account of the process of becoming a beneficiary and the consequent experience. The Department of Social Welfare initially contacted the sample of eighty persons by letter and asked each to return a prepared form to the researcher if each was willing to co-operate. Forty-eight respondents returned a form and were interviewed. An interview schedule was proposed as the tool for collecting the data. The researcher interviewed each respondent. The interview consisted mainly of open-ended questions and there were a wide variety of answers to most questions. Presentation of the data is in seven sections. The first section describes the interviewees in social terms, the next six sections describe access to the Service, application for supplementary assistance, the client's perception of the benefit, her knowledge of the benefit, the role of the agents of the organisation, employment and the beneficiary. The researcher suggests that some evidence of discouragement from, and in, applying for supplementary assistance is provided in this study. It is suggested that for some asking for financial assistance was not closely associated with feelings of shame, embarrassment or dependency. However, the interview for supplementary assistance caused some embarrassment and other negative feelings were expressed. Some respondents expressed feelings of passivity towards the benefit. Some had difficulty in contacting the Department about a benefit, usually described as delay or difficulty in getting a benefit. There is evidence, firstly, that a group of respondents were unaware of the role of the social worker involved and secondly, that certain casework methods (advice and supportive-directive casework) were prominent in worker-client interaction. The social worker played an important role as informant about supplementary assistance. Information on the difficulties involved in being employed was forthcoming. The data suggest that knowledge of benefits was meagre. The data collected can be used to support or reject hypotheses but they do not contribute to a theoretical framework because the study is descriptive and tentative.