Perceptions of procedural fairness and space for personal narrative: an experimental study of form design

Application forms – the most mundane of documents – are often the compulsory interface between an individual and the state. From social security and immigration, to health and social care, application forms are ubiquitous across almost all areas of government bureaucracy. However, socio-legal research on administrative justice tends to examine these forms from the perspective of front-line decision makers, instead of form fillers. Drawing on a survey experiment with 655 recipients of Universal Credit (a means-tested social security benefit) in the United Kingdom, we demonstrate how the inclusion of space for personal narrative in a local welfare application form – the ability to set out one's circumstances in full – significantly increases perceptions of procedural fairness. Our findings demonstrate how seemingly small changes to form design can have a considerable impact on the perceived fairness of an application process and the importance of grounding administrative justice research in the experiences of people who regularly interact with the administrative processes of the state.