English
Based on a case study of the implementation of the personalised autonomy allowance (APA), this text analyses the way in which a street-level organisation can contribute to setting limits on the discretionary power of officials charged with implementing a social policy. By focusing on a survey by interviews carried out in a French department between 2017 and 2019, it illustrates how recruitment policies, the division of work and IT tools in place within departments influence the discretionary power of agents to spend, manage time and obtain consent and how these policies can thereby determine the public’s experience with the welfare state.