ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the set of strategies designed to enlist the public and welfare recipients themselves in the business of welfare compliance. This includes the introduction and promotion of fraud tip-off or ‘snitch’ lines and ‘voluntary compliance’ strategies that encourage welfare recipients to manage their own compliance risks. Drawing on the work of David Garland, these strategies can be understood as a form of ‘responsibilisation’ in which responsibility for crime control functions is partially divested from the state to private citizens. As this chapter argues, the effect of responsibilisation strategies in the realm of welfare compliance is to recast the problem of welfare fraud as ‘everybody’s business’ rather than a problem solely for the state. This serves to deflect blame away from the state, not just for the problem of welfare fraud but for the broader failings of welfare provision.
