Welfare Reform on the Web (September 2011): Social care - UK - community care

A better way back to everyday life

D. Walden

Health Service Journal, Aug. 4th 2011, p. 26-27

Reablement services focus on assisting people to live independently by helping them to relearn skills needed for everyday life. This contrasts with the conventional home care approach of doing things for people. Although setting up reablement services is not cheap, research shows that they can reduce demand for conventional social care by 60%. The government has recognised the potential benefits of reablement with a £70m investment to develop services.

Can support brokerage remedy the imbalance of power between citizens and the state?

D. Sowerby

Community Living, vol.24, no.4, 2011, p. 18-19

Support brokerage started as part of the In Control movement, now sometimes called Self-Directed Support or Personalisation, building on earlier developments to encourage independent living. This article introduces the work of the National Brokerage Network, and discusses some of the controversies surrounding the relationship of the role of support broker to that of social worker.