Social Service Budgeting in Israeli Local Authorities

Social Service Budgeting in Israeli Local Authorities

Welfare services in local authorities are budgeted according to the “matching” method: for every shekel invested by the local authority, the Ministry of Labor and Welfare allocates three shekels. Thus, in practice, 75% of the welfare budget is financed by the Ministry of Labor and Welfare and 25% by the local authority. This 2017 research study by Prof. John Gal, Shavit Madhala and Haim Bleikh examines budgetary patterns and indicates that there is indeed considerable inequality in budgeting between strong and weak local authorities as well as between Arab Israeli and Jewish localities:

This chapter looks at social service budgeting patterns among Israel’s local authorities. The research findings presented in the chapter point to large disparities between local authorities in their per client expenditure. These disparities are even more marked when we compare the budgets of affluent and poor local authorities, and of Jewish and Arab Israeli localities. These gaps are related to differences in the types of client populations within the various localities, variations in the authority’s service provision patterns, and the willingness of stronger localities to increase social welfare spending beyond the allocations provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. The disparities also appear to be rooted in the weaker localities’ inability to commit to funding their share of out-of-home services for their residents, and in a shortage of out-of-home institutions serving needy Arab Israelis. These gaps worsen already-existing inequalities in Israeli society, and harm the country’s weakest population segments. The findings on geographic social welfare inequality and its causes underscore the need for change in Ministry policy regarding resource allocation for local authority social services. Such policy will have to ensure that those in need of service have equal access to it, regardless of where they live. Policy will also need to accommodate the varying amount and types of service needs in individual localities.