The correction ladder

The failure: A benefits rule denies people whose address changed mid-application. Each denial is appealed and overturned.

Which levels are failing

• clearThe record — what is held about this person is wrong
• clearThe decision — the record was right and the decision made from it was wrong
• indictedThe rule — the decision followed the rule, and the rule is wrong for cases like this
• clearThe burden — the rule works only because someone else absorbs a cost it never counts
• clearThe question — the rule answers the wrong question, so a correct answer still fails the person
• clearThe jurisdiction — the institution is deciding something that was never its to decide

What the correction reached

The residual indicted the rule, and the correction reached the rule. The correction reached the deepest level that was failing — which is the whole test.

The residual is the evidence that tells you which level is failing. The gap between the indicted level and the corrected level is where the institution describes itself as working: case-level relief at rule-level expense. Mark the failing levels and the achieved depth, and the gap states itself.