Local Authority Social Services An Introduction

by Hill, Michael; Hudson, Bob; Mitchell, Stephen; Shaw, Ian; Tunstill, Jane

• ISBN13: 9780631209461
• ISBN10: 0631209468
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-11
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This new text provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to Local Authority Social Services, the main context in which UK social work is practised .

Author Biography

Michael Hill is currently Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He was previously Professor of Social Policy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is joint editor of the Journal of Social Policy and the author of numerous books including Social Policy: A Comparative Analysis (1995) and Understanding Social Policy (6th edition, 2000).

The other contributors are Bob Hudson, Principle Research Fellow in the Community Care Division at the Nuffield Institute of Health at the University of Leeds.

Stephen Mitchell, Head of the General Social Services Policy Branch in the Department of Health.

Ian Shaw, Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Nottingham.

Jane Tunstill, Professor of Social Work at Royal Holloway College, University of London.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
List of Tables	x
List of Contributors	xii
Preface	xiv
Acknowledgements	xvi
Part 1: Establishing the Main Concerns of the Book	1	(56)
What are Local Authority Social Services?	3	(19)
Michael Hill
Introduction	3	(4)
Social services work	7	(5)
Social services and other areas of social policy	12	(2)
Social services and health	14	(5)
Social services as last resort services	19	(2)
Conclusions	21	(1)
Origins of the Local Authority Social Services	22	(16)
Michael Hill
Introduction	22	(1)
Personal social services before 1948	23	(3)
Developments in the 1940s	26	(1)
1948 to 1971	27	(4)
1971 to 1990	31	(6)
Conclusions	37	(1)
The Contemporary Social Framework	38	(19)
Michael Hill
Introduction	38	(1)
The basic demographic picture	39	(1)
More complex demographic issues	40	(6)
Ethnicity	46	(2)
Economic stresses and strains	48	(4)
Ill health and disability	52	(2)
Conclusions: social pathology and social services	54	(3)
Part 2: The Local Authority Social Services Task	57	(80)
Child Care	59	(26)
Jane Tunstill
Introduction	59	(2)
A brief historical perspective on social services provision for children	61	(1)
The legal and administrative framework	62	(6)
Services and settings	68	(8)
Key services issues	76	(5)
The role of training	81	(1)
Conclusions	82	(3)
Adult Care	85	(20)
Bob Hudson
Introduction	85	(1)
Services for older people	85	(7)
Services for people with a learning disability	92	(6)
Services for physically disabled people	98	(6)
Conclusions	104	(1)
Mental Health	105	(14)
Ian Shaw
Introduction	105	(2)
Mental illness and the new community care	107	(2)
Mental health and social work	109	(2)
Problems with community care	111	(1)
Managing dangerousness	112	(6)
Conclusions	118	(1)
Social Services and Social Security	119	(18)
Michael Hill
Introduction	119	(3)
Cash and care in the years after the end of the Poor Law: an evolving relationship	122	(1)
Cash benefits and welfare rights	123	(3)
The welfare responsibilities and concerns of social security agencies	126	(3)
The impact of the 1986 Social Security Act	129	(3)
Disability, community care and local authority means testing	132	(3)
Conclusions	135	(2)
Part 3: Organization: Present and Future	137	(71)
The Central and Local Government Framework	139	(19)
Michael Hill
Introduction	139	(1)
The role of the Department of Health	140	(2)
The Audit Commission	142	(1)
The local government context	142	(1)
The collective representation of local authorities	143	(1)
Local government finance and the social services function	143	(5)
Policy making in local government	148	(6)
Organizational issues about health service collaboration	154	(3)
Conclusions	157	(1)
Organization within Local Authorities	158	(21)
Michael Hill
Introduction	158	(1)
The organization of social services: the model after Seebohm	158	(4)
Elaborating the model: preoccupations in the 1970s and 1980s	162	(2)
The `big bang' of the 1990s -- community care and the Children Act	164	(3)
Contemporary models of social services organization	167	(8)
Staffing of social services authorities	175	(2)
Conclusions	177	(2)
Modernizing Social Services: The Management Challenge of the 1998 Social Services White Paper	179	(23)
Stephen Mitchell
Introduction	179	(2)
Background: the 1997 inheritance	181	(2)
Why modernize?	183	(3)
Modernizing adult services	186	(4)
Modernizing children's services	190	(3)
Strengthening regulation of services and the work-force	193	(3)
Improving performance	196	(3)
Conclusions: the key challenges	199	(3)
Conclusions: The Future of Local Authority Social Services	202	(6)
Michael Hill
References	208	(12)
Index	220