Charging for the Social Services

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Abstract
New or increased charges to the users of the social services are likely to be considered with greater interest in our present economic situation. It seems an appropriate time, therefore, to ask what purposes direct charges are intended to serve and whether, in practice, they live up to these expectations. Admittedly, it may be misleading to refer to ‘purposes’ in this way, since they will be interpreted differently by different interests. But we may gain at least an idea of the range of purposes that governments have in mind by looking at the introduction, removal or variation of charges. The same might be done at the level of local government in those spheres where councils act independently. Proceeding in this way I suggest that five main purposes may be identified. Briefly, these are: raising revenue; reducing demand; shifting priorities; checking abuse, and a symbolic purpose. I shall say a little about each of them and then draw two sets of conclusions: one about the overall effect of charges and the other about the circumstances in which changes in charges are likely to occur.

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