2 What is social care policy for?
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Catherine Needham
Abstract
To assess and compare the four care systems of the four nations in the UK it is important to have a clear sense of what they are trying to achieve. This chapter focuses on how policy documents in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland frame social care, and how care policy supports the aim of improving social care. It looks at what policy makers have set out in the documents as being their vision of sustainable care and a good life for people with care needs. Despite the definitional ambiguities and boundary issues, policy documents from the four nations have a similar vision of what social care policy is aiming to achieve. The overarching principle in all four systems is that care policy should maximise individual and collective wellbeing. It will do this by being fair, rights-based and high-quality – and ensuring these goals are achieved for everyone in the system (people who use services, unpaid carers and care workers). These elements combined are expected to deliver sustainability. We look in turn at wellbeing, fairness, rights, quality and sustainability, as well as at the tensions that can arise when all of them are in focus at once.
Abstract
To assess and compare the four care systems of the four nations in the UK it is important to have a clear sense of what they are trying to achieve. This chapter focuses on how policy documents in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland frame social care, and how care policy supports the aim of improving social care. It looks at what policy makers have set out in the documents as being their vision of sustainable care and a good life for people with care needs. Despite the definitional ambiguities and boundary issues, policy documents from the four nations have a similar vision of what social care policy is aiming to achieve. The overarching principle in all four systems is that care policy should maximise individual and collective wellbeing. It will do this by being fair, rights-based and high-quality – and ensuring these goals are achieved for everyone in the system (people who use services, unpaid carers and care workers). These elements combined are expected to deliver sustainability. We look in turn at wellbeing, fairness, rights, quality and sustainability, as well as at the tensions that can arise when all of them are in focus at once.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series editors’ preface vi
- List of figures, tables and boxes viii
- About the authors x
- Acknowledgements xi
- Comparing adult social care systems in the UK 1
- What is social care policy for? 22
- What is in crisis? The context of care policy in the four nations 44
- The mechanisms of social care reform 77
- The outcomes of social care reform 100
- Territorial policy communities: scale, style and scope 127
- The limits of social care reform 152
- Conclusion: between care paradigms 171
- References 180
- Index 207
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series editors’ preface vi
- List of figures, tables and boxes viii
- About the authors x
- Acknowledgements xi
- Comparing adult social care systems in the UK 1
- What is social care policy for? 22
- What is in crisis? The context of care policy in the four nations 44
- The mechanisms of social care reform 77
- The outcomes of social care reform 100
- Territorial policy communities: scale, style and scope 127
- The limits of social care reform 152
- Conclusion: between care paradigms 171
- References 180
- Index 207
