The Social Side of Fair Process

The Social Side of Fair Process Speaker: Professor Joe Tomlinson (University of York) Chair: The Rt Hon Sir Ernest Ryder Date: 23rd January 2025 The Central Idea - - Millions of people interact with administration everyday... • Process • Outcome /decision Separate from the eventual outcome, the manner in which people are treated in their interactions with administration is a matter of fairness - Professor Nathan D. Grundstein Address to American Political Science Association, New York City (1963) • - "Procedure has been an obsessive concern of... administrative law." Professor Kenneth Culp Davis Response in Journal of the Indian Law Institute • "This is like saying that the birth of babies has been an obsessive concern of obstetricians... Procedure is the essence of administrative law... The basic problem of administrative law is.... What procedures should the government use for getting the results it wants?" - Legal - Normative - Administrative Design - Social - Subjective perceptions - • Perception of fair treatment • How the public thinks and acts • Capacity of state to deliver policy The social side of fair process is almost certainly highly consequential but far from fully understood - + - Advancing understanding of the social side requires us to think differently about the idea of fair administrative process The Existing Evidence Frontline policing (Tyler, 1990) - Frontline police officers play a crucial role in shaping public perceptions of the legal system - The way police treat individuals during encounters-whether fairly, respectfully, and without bias - influences people's willingness to comply with the law - When individuals feel that police officers are fair, they view them as more legitimate authorities - This legitimacy increases voluntary compliance with laws, as people obey not out of fear of punishment but because they trust the system and believe it is just Healthcare (Tyler, Mentovich, and Satyavada, 2014) - Investigates patients' adherence to medical recommendations - Patients more likely to follow medical recommendations when they feel that their doctors treat them with respect, gave them a voice in the process, and explained decisions transparently - Trust in healthcare providers, shaped by fair processes, a crucial mediator between procedural justice and adherence - Processes can improve care outcomes - "The standards of fairness are not immutable. They may change with the passage of time, both in the general and in their application to decisions of a particular type." • Lord Mustill, ex parte Doody [1993] UKHL 8 Tyler's model Process quality Voice Definition People have their chance to tell their side of the story and feel that authority figures will listen and sincerely consider this before making a decision Process quality Neutrality Respect Trustworthy motives Definition People see authority figures as neutral and principled decision-makers, who apply rules consistently, transparently, and do not base their decisions on personal opinion or bias People feel respected and treated courteously by authority figures and believe their right are considered equal to those of others and that their issues will be taken seriously People see authority figures as people with trustworthy motives, who are sincere and authentic, who listen and care, and who try to do what is right for everyone involved. Lab Universal Credit model Process quality Usability Individualized treatment Dignity Efficiency Neutrality Definition It is clear to people how to make a claim and update information about their claim Officials and processes listen to people (including their concerns), have their best interests at heart, and try to accommodate their situation Officials and processes treat people with respect and kindness People can easily contact officials to ask for assistance, and officials respond promptly to engage with their questions and/or concerns Rules are applied consistently between people, and everyone is treated the same regardless of background Thinking Contingently - Commonalities and differences in what people look for across different settings - Background factors also likely relevant, but not always - Unlocking the positive effects of fair administrative process will require us to develop more context-specific thinking about what fair process requires Thinking About How Perceptions Are Formed - Administrative process - Formal subject - Media channel - Third party Homes for Ukraine sponsors (vicarious view formation) - "I guess the biggest surprise, I think, has been how shabbily the Home Office are. You'd think our Home Office, or I thought, or I had it in my head, was sleek, they knew exactly what was going on. But when you actually delve into the system, there are a lot of people that haven't got a clue what's going on and there's a lot of paperwork that goes missing and files that go missing. It's quite horrific... I wouldn't have relied on the Home Office to tell me what they were doing and being so gullible." - "It wasn't really on my radar. In my own little world, everything was ticking along, it didn't really affect me, as in things tick along, and I'm okay. Whereas now, I can see how inept they are and how frustrating everything is... I read things, I watched things, but it didn't affect my little, wee world and my bubble. But now, I get very frustrated when I see and read what's going on. So yeah, it does, it makes you more aware, I think.... I'm old-school and I was always brought up that people in authority knew what they were doing ... and I just see that, actually, no, they're absolute idiots, the lot of them." Thinking About Diverse Outcomes - Perception of fair treatment - How the public thinks and acts - Capacity of state to deliver policy Perception Of Fair Process In Universal Credit - Willingness to share information - Willingness to complain/appeal - Willingness to co-operate - Confidence about finding a job - Increased work ambitions Research Implications - Need to embrace and manage greater conceptual complexity - Expand the evidence base - Methodological complexity (need for integration of modern social science methodologies) - But this can allow us to advance understanding Policy Implications - Conventional to see fair administrative process as part of public policy implementation - Extent of governmental commitment to delivering fair process should also be viewed as part and parcel of substantive social and economic policy - Evidence we do have suggests that fair process holds the potential not only to encourage pro-social behaviors and attitudes, but also to enhance the government's own capacity - Fairness trade-offs exist in all administrative process - But often small, low-cost changes can improve perceptions of fair process - Example: space for personal narrative on a welfare application form A final thought… - Lab survey, 3,454 adults in UK, 2022 • 28% of people had confidence that any procedures set up by the government to support people through fuel poverty resulting from the energy crisis will be fair • 20% of people said that, if they had to make an application for social care in the next 12 months, they would be confident the procedures used to decide their case would be fair • 26% of people said that, if they had to make an application for Universal Credit in the next 12 months, they would be confident the procedures used to decide their case would be fair