This chapter discusses proposals published during 2005 that will potentially transform the organisation and delivery of social care services for adults and older people in England. The chapter locates these proposals within broader historical and organisational contexts and analyses their implications — for the 1993 community care ‘settlement’; for the role of social care within wider local authority responsibilities; and for the interfaces between social care and health care.

The main community care measures in the 1990 National Health Service (NHS) and Community Care Act came into force on 1 April 1993. The Act gave local authority social services departments lead...

Health policy in England in recent years has been described as embodying elements of bothmodernisationandmarketisation. These processes are intended to achieve a transformation from an ‘old’ monolithic service into a ‘new’ National Health Service (NHS), fit for the 21st century, and are to be pursued in part by curbing the monopoly powers of health care providers and ‘harnessing the powers of healthcare users as individuals wishing to access good quality healthcare’ (Allsop and Baggott, 2004, p 29). Following the Labour Party’s re-election in May 2005, while it commenced a third term in office with a much-reduced majority,...

In his third and final term, Blair, it seems, wants to make the sorts of fundamental and irreversible changes that he believes Margaret Thatcher was able to make, and the public services are the chosen arena for his reforming zeal. It is no surprise, therefore, that education has been a target for further reform in 2005, nor that he described the introduction of this year’s Schools White Paper (DfES, 2005a), which embodied many of his radical ambitions, as a ‘pivotal moment for education’ (Blair, 2005b).

The analogy with the Thatcher governments is illuminating. Whereas the Thatcher reform agenda took time...

In January 2005 the government published the findings of an independent evaluation of English housing policy over the period 1975–2000 (Stephens et al, 2005). This was the first attempt to examine housing policy in this way since the 1977 review (DoE, 1977), and it provides the framework in this chapter for examining current policy developments.

The evaluation found that while many individual policy instruments were successful within their own terms, they often had unexpected and undesirable spillover effects. Sometimes spillover effects took the form of unacknowledged but unavoidable trade-offs between competing objectives. Policies were most successful when they followed...

2005 has seen three Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions — Alan Johnson, David Blunkett and latterly John Hutton. The year also saw a May General Election with the return to office of the Labour Party, albeit with a reduced majority. There has been particular concern over the delivery of the tax credit scheme, leading to both administrative and policy reform announcements within the year. The build-up to the Welfare Reform Green Paper, discussed and delayed through much of 2005 but not actually published until January 2006 (DWP, 2006), has led to much discussion around mechanisms of increasing labour market...

The current cycles of health service modernisation open up important questions about the future of the welfare state and of the solidaristic citizen identifications with which it is traditionally associated. The figure of the demanding citizen-consumer who strides assertively through the pages of policy documents and the scripts of ministerial speeches stands as a central icon of the current reforms in general, and of the increasing significance of choice in particular. However, alongside choice, notions of ‘challenge’ and ‘responsibility’ inform the modernisation process.‘Challenge’ is linked to ideas of a newly informed and potentially querulous citizenry — what the Patient Czar termed...

Increasing attention to ‘positive’ health within public health can be seen in the way the term ‘health’ in policy documentation and discourse has more frequently become ‘health and well-being’ (Lazenbatt et al, 2000; DH, 2001, 2003; HDA, 2002, 2004). This emphasis on positive health (rather than a focus solely on negative, ill health) seems to chime with other changes and shifts, in particular the opening up of the traditional territory of public health to now be the proper concern and responsibility of all agencies and individuals (see, for example, DH, 2002), and widespread acceptance that health generally is now set...

Research on happiness is currently enjoying a higher profile than at any time since Jeremy Bentham and the utilitarians in the 18th century. In particular, some economists have in recent years turned their attention to possible connections between happiness and various aspects of economic behaviour (see, for example, Frey and Stutzer, 2002). This builds on work by psychologists over many decades on the relationships between happiness, personality traits and experiences (for a review, see Diener, 1994). This chapter considers whether there are insights to be gleaned for social policy from this resurgence of interest in the idea of happiness. Is...

Until very recent times, the single statistic that best predicted the health and well-being of populations was wealth. Even as late as 1972 the economist Wilson remarked that the science of economics is ‘nearest the core of any problem concerning the quality of life’ and that ‘the quality of life of any individual or community can in a direct and simple way be related to income’ (Wilson, 1972, p 131).

Contemporary data from industrialised nations, however, indicate a far more complex picture. Indeed, even as Wilson made his pronouncement there was plenty of evidence that his broad attribution to ‘any’...

Well-being, and the role of community, civil society and local government in achieving it, has a considerable profile in contemporary public policy (Nussbaum and Sen, 1993; The Treasury, 2001; DEFRA, 2005; Manderson, 2005). Internationally, this emergence has been supported by developments in the new public health, community health and primary healthcare, especially focused on addressing health inequalities (often conceived in terms of inequality between locations) (Marmot and Wilkinson, 1999, 2001; Baum, 2002; Kawachi and Berkman, 2003; Anand et al, 2004). At the same time, in countries including New Zealand and the UK, attention to the well-being of citizens has emerged...

Since 1997, issues relating to older workers and retirement have become major influences on the development of economic and social policy. In part this has reflected changes to the organisation of work and retirement during the 20th century. Donald Hirsch (2003) has observed that, throughout this time, the idea of a fixed point of leaving work — at age 60 or 65 — developed as one of the great certainties of life, particularly in the case of men. Modern retirement policy was itself a product of the late 19th century, as large private companies and branches of the civil service adopted pension...

Age discrimination is once again back on the British political agenda. On 1 October 2006 there will come into force the new Age Regulations, which will outlaw age discrimination in key aspects of employment (principally recruitment, promotion and training) and extend full employment rights (for example, regarding unfair dismissal) to those aged 65+. All statutory retirement ages under 65 are to be banned (unless ‘objectively justified’) and employees will have a right to request to remain working past the age of 65. Both direct and indirect discrimination will be covered, and at any age. Much will be clarified in years...

The notion of a society based on the principles of lifelong learning has achieved a remarkable consensus among policy makers and practitioners across the European Union. Although the concept is not new, in recent years it has been promoted with increasing urgency in government and educational circles. The reasons are due to a complex interplay of economic, technological and demographic pressures. Economic restructuring has led to a reconfiguration of industries, sectors and workplaces, leaving those with outdated or inadequate skills vulnerable to extended periods of unemployment. The speed of technological change, coupled with the rapid advances in technological know-how in...

This contribution is based on my experience of setting up and running TAEN, The Age and Employment Network, formerly known as the Third Age Employment Network. It was founded in 1998 as a not-for-profit enterprise and registered charity to find ways of making the labour market operate more effectively for people in mid-and later life. It is sponsored by and co-located with Help the Aged. Its members now include over 250 organisations, made up of employers, training providers, colleges, recruitment and employment agencies, voluntary and community organisations, public agencies at national, regional and local level, individuals, unions, employment lawyers, think...