ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how user trust in welfare institutions is built through the everyday practices of frontline workers operating within a generally distrustful institutional context. Drawing on 115 interviews with frontline workers and 117 with welfare users across seven European countries, the study identifies and analyses trust-relevant practices through a policy feedback lens. These include strategic use of time, transparent and empathetic communication, alleviation of client anxiety, and discretionary decisions favouring users. While many practices align with existing literature on trust in public services, the chapter offers two key contributions. Firstly, it introduces the concept of “reworking” institutional constraints – innovative, often ad-hoc actions frontline workers take to soften the negative effects of rigid policies on trust. These strategies blur traditional categorisations of worker roles (e.g., “state agent” vs. “citizen agent”), suggesting flexibility and pragmatism in trust-building. Secondly, the study provides a nuanced view of “professional morality” as perceived by both workers and clients. This morality is rooted in “doing more than the minimum” and being “a normal fellow”, emphasising human connection, discretion, and agency. The chapter highlights how personal interactions, rather than institutional design alone, shape users' trust in welfare systems.
