Local Authority Experience with Implementation of the 300-Hour Rule

How have local authorities in Denmark handled implementation of the 300-hour rule? The study findings indicate that in several ways implementation of the rule presented a challenge to the local authorities, not least because it coincided with local government reorganisation and the establishment of separate local authority job centres. Moreover, the law was not straightforward to interpret on the question of to whom the rule applied. At the same time, the 300-hour rule has been a spur not only those recipients of cash benefits affected by it, but also to the job centres to get determinedly to grips with helping those recipients of cash benefits who have been in the system for many years. The conclusions are based on a questionnaire study and an interview study conducted among Danish local authorities by the Danish Institute of Governmental Research (AKF) in 2007/2008, combined with data from official records.