Risk-based administrative simplification aims to reduce regulatory complexity, bureaucratic burdens, and other obstacles to cost-effective and speedy delivery of social services. This is done while maintaining the integrity of programmes, and preserving the checks and balances that minimize the risks of fraud and abuse by targeting legislative provisions on clients that constitute the highest risk, in terms of probability of outcome and impact if the risk materializes.

Many approaches exist for administrative simplification, and institutions should adopt the approach most suited to their environment or the programmes they are targeting.