Making administrative work matter in public service delivery: a lens for linking practice with the purpose of office.

This article examines the role and functions of administrative work in public service delivery, specifically among street-level bureaucrats in Danish municipal child welfare units. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and a relational theoretical approach, it identifies three key functions of administrative work—knowledge (gaining, judging, and maintaining case information), representing the client's voice, and protection (safeguarding caseworkers against criticism and ensuring legal compliance)—that help caseworkers manage the complexities of their work and fulfill their office's purpose. The study challenges the common dualism that separates administrative tasks from client service by showing how administrative work can be integral to responsive and ethical public service. It also distinguishes between administrative work driven by managerialism and that rooted in bureaucratic ethos, proposing a new theoretical framework to better understand and evaluate administrative practices in street-level bureaucracy.