Central‐local tensions in the decentralization of social policies: Street‐level bureaucrats and social practices in the Netherlands

European welfare reforms often involve the decentralization of social care services. This potentially creates central-local tensions for professionals implementing and delivering policies on ground. Using capability approach (CA) as a conceptual frame, this article compares local professionals' experiences in work services an urban rural mid-sized municipality Netherlands. It offers missing insiders' perspective tensions, focusing front-line workers' capabilities to effectively implement policy finds that perfect implementation is hardly achievable locally are translated through on-the-ground delivery. leads absence reflective space deal with normative dilemmas. We conclude CA both useful identifying these well providing framework guide reflecting negotiating street-level issues.