Complexity, Law and Social Security in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The UK has a very complex system of interrelated, rule-based social security benefits and tax credits which are highly conditional and targeted. The conditions of entitlement and provision for the assessment of need have been bound up in an intricate legal framework. Rules have enabled governments to adapt and develop schemes to meet social needs while controlling the delivery of welfare from the centre, but the system, its components and its legal framework have evolved into a state of such complexity that some of the core aims of welfare and its management in the modern state are being undermined. Focussing on Great Britain,1 this article explains the causes of this complexity and discusses its impact. It also assesses the practicability of significant simplification, for which there are increasingly urgent calls.