The Bureaucratic Cost of Welfare: Administrative Burden and Unequal Access to Social Assistance

Abstract

Social assistance was often assessed through eligibility rules, coverage, targeting, and benefit adequacy, yet these measures did not capture the resources citizens had to spend before an entitlement became usable. This article examined administrative burden as a citizen-side welfare cost and asked how it shaped access to social assistance. A structured integrative review synthesized peer-reviewed publications on administrative burden, benefit take-up, welfare administration, digital public services, and social equity. The evidence showed that access was not a single decision. Burden arose when citizens learned about programs, documented eligibility, completed applications, responded to verification, and retained benefits after enrollment. These costs were uneven because the resources needed to navigate administration were also uneven. Cognitive constraints, poor health, weak digital skills, limited social support, and economic insecurity made ordinary procedures harder to absorb. The study developed administrative welfare cost as a synthesis concept for the gap between formal entitlement and realized access. It concluded that the key public affairs issue was whether procedural demands were proportionate to their purpose and realistically navigable by intended beneficiaries.