Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2007): Social care - UK

We can help you integrate

B. Hudson

Community Care, Feb. 22nd-28th 2007, p. 32-33

The Integrated Care Network seeks to assist local agencies in engaging with the partnership agenda which is being promoted by recent government reforms. It has produced a range of advice and guidance materials covering user involvement in service development, self-directed support, governance of inter-agency partnerships, and the nature of the whole systems approach to service design.

Here today, gone tomorrow?

A.U. Sale

Community Care, Mar. 22nd-28th 2007, p.26-27

Agency social workers can be undervalued by their permanent colleagues because they are unable to take on the same level of responsibility. However, given a detailed induction and adequate supervision, they can make a positive contribution to the team.

Human rights and care homes: the Court of Appeal's decision

P. Grose

Caring Times, Mar. 2007, p. 29-30

The Court of Appeal decided in the case of Johnson v London Borough of Havering that private residential care homes are not public bodies and are therefore not subject to the Human Rights Act 1998. However, private care providers are regulated by the Care Standards Act 2000 and its associated National Minimum Standards which impose much tougher obligations than those laid down by the Human Rights Act.

Our eroding profession

S. Rogowski

Professional Social Work, Mar. 2007, p. 14-15

Argues that social work has been marginalised since the 1980s through the advent of managerialism and the rise of an authoritarian and controlling attitude towards children and families. The ethos of current social work involves telling clients to behave in certain acceptable ways or face the consequences. There is also now a focus on targets and procedures, and little room for direct work with clients.