Devolved budget making within local authority housing departments: Staff perceptions of power and control

The rationale for this article is that limited knowledge of the budgetary process within housing organisations together with the recent changes associated with 'best value' point to a need to better understand the context within which policy decisions are taken. The article investigates the ways in which senior housing and finance officers interpret their work environment, encounter constraints and implement budgets within two metropolitan local authority housing departments in a period leading up to the settlement of the housing revenue account 2000/01. It is argued that in spite of a theoretical commitment to budget devolution for officers working at neighbourhood level, the actual practice of budget making is tightly regulated by finance staff working at the centre.