'What They Have', 'What They Do': Social Security and Regulatory Accountability

The paper shows that social security claimants in the United Kingdom have been drawn into an emerging climate of regulatory accountability because a combination of law and administration means that claimants could be required to explain actions and expose choices to judgement. It is shown that claimants can not only be held accountable for ensuring that their possession- and labour-based resources are factored into claim decisions but also for ensuring they represent these resources accurately and use these resources appropriately, according to the demands of the regulatory system. In short, claimants can be held accountable for ‘what they have’ and ‘what they do’ because they have resources considered necessary for achieving regulatory objectives. A new perspective is provided which challenges the traditional authority-centric notion of accountability and raises new questions for empirical research.