Adult social care in Britain has faced many crises over recent decades. Revelations of horrific abuse, the collapse of major private home care providers, abject failures of inspection and regulation, and uncertainty over how long-term care of older people should be funded have all given rise to serious public concern. The contributors to this volume debate the current state of adult social care and offer a historical overview of services and examine recent developments in the field. They conclude with a look at the prospects for adult social care and social work in an era of seemingly never-ending austerity measures.

This report on Adult Social Care recommends the most far-reaching reforms of adult social care law seen for over 60 years. Under the proposals, older people, disabled people, those with mental health problems and carers will, for the first time, be clear about their legal rights to care and support services. And local councils across England and Wales will have clear and concise rules to govern when they must provide services. Since the National Assistance Act 1948 adult social care law has been the subject of countless piecemeal reforms including new Acts of Parliament and a constant stream of regulations, circulars, directions, approvals and guidance. The proliferation of law has led to inefficiency in the system. Complex law also has the effect of stifling innovation, and make it difficult to promote flexibility and new policy approaches in practice. The report is divided into twelve Parts. Part 2 defines adult social care and Part 3 the structure of reform adopted. Parts 4 through to 8 set out core recommendations: Part 4 considers the role of statutory principles in providing an overall framework for decision making; Part 5 covers the role of community care assessments in determining a person's needs; Part 6 considers eligibility for services; Part 7 explores the equivalent assessment and eligibility processes for carers; and Part 8 considers the provision of services. Part 9 considers local authority adult protection functions. Finally, Parts 10 to 12 consider other issues, including ordinary residence and portability; areas where adult social care overlaps with other areas of law; and other outstanding issues.

Social work law is at the foundation of all social work practice, from shaping professional boundaries to determining the level of intervention. Every case is complex and unique and therefore requires different legal treatment; this means it is absolutely vital that social workers not only understand the law, but are able to critically analyse the legal framework and apply it to their practice. This book provides students and practitioners with an essential guide to adult social care law. It lays out the key case law, core legislation and the HSPCC standards as they apply to different areas of adult social care. This includes issues of capacity, making an assessment, supporting carers and working with vulnerable adults. Designed to support learning needs, the book is packed with engaging case studies and reflective exercises, as well as a legal toolbox to help simplify the legal jargon. Whether you are a student or practitioner, this is a practical, accessible guide to competent and lawful practice in adult social care.

Between April 2012-March 2013, the Commission carried out 35,000 inspections of health and social care services in England. The State of Care report brings together their findings about the quality of these services and also takes a special look at the pressures on accident and emergency. It covers quality of the NHS; independent healthcare; adult social care and primary dental care. Some key findings included that 1 in 5 nursing home inspections revealed safety concerns; 47% of problems uncovered in the NHS were judged to have 'major' or 'moderate' impact on patients; 1 in 10 independent healthcare inspections were not meeting standards of safeguarding and safety; and 7% of dental care inspections raised concerns relating to safeguarding and safety

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health care and adult social care services in England. This report describes the state of health care and adult social care services in England in 2011/12. The report has two main sections, dealing with the shape of care provision and the quality and safety of services. Each section looks at the different care sectors in turn: NHS healthcare, independent healthcare, dental care and adult social care. Overall the Care Quality Commission found that the increasing complexity of conditions and greater co-morbidities experienced by people are impacting on the ability of care providers to deliver person-centred care that meets individuals needs. It is also seeing increasing pressures on staff, both in terms of the skills required to care for people with more complex conditions and in terms of staff numbers.

Adult social care was the first major social policy domain in England to be transferred from the state to the market. This book meticulously charts this shift, challenges the dominant market paradigm, explores alternative models for a post-Covid-19 future and locates the debate within the wider political thinking and policy change literature.

Additional written evidence is contained in Volume 3, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/healthcom

This is the second annual report on the state of care in England. New laws governing the regulation of health care and adult social care came into force in 2010 and introduced a common set of essential standards of quality and safety that all care providers must now meet. The report covers all of the services that CQC regulated and assessed under the previous legislation: adult social care services (Care homes, nursing homes and home care agencies); the NHS and independent health care services; Councils and primary care trusts (PCTs) who provide and purchase (commission) adult social care and health care services for their communities. There are four main sections - safe care, choice and control, person-centred services and standards of care.

The devolution of social care policy has led to key differences emerging between the UK’s four care systems. This book presents research on the perspectives of social care policy makers within the UK’s four care systems, concluding that when given equal capacity to reform, the systems in each nation may take radically different shapes.