Introduction and overview, Bob Hudson. Part 1 The changing role of social care: new approaches to local governance, John Stewart; changes in the statutory sector, Nirmala Rao; changes in the private sector, Brian Hardy and Gerald Wistow; changes in the voluntary sector, Jeremy Kendall; human resources in social care, Sue Balloch; the changing role of users and carers, Julia Twigg. Part 2 Working across boundaries: social care and housing, Murray Hawtin; social care and social security, Geoff Fimister; central-local relations - the changing bureaucratic balance of direction vs. discretion in social care, Melanie Henwood. Part 3 Comparative perspectives: UK variations in social care, Alison Petch; who pays? who provides? towards a comparative approach to the study of social care, Michael Hill; conclusion - ''modernizing social services'' - a blueprint for the new millennium?, Bob Hudson.
Focusing on the enormous organizational and cultural changes that local authority social services have undergone since the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act, this volume provides an overview of the structure and function of social care at practice, management and policy levels. It contains contributions from leading academics, researchers and practitioners in the UK, and also includes chapters on the experiences of the rest of Europe and the US. The contributors examine the impact and effeciveness of key shifts in: the weighting of responsibility of central and local government; who the purchasers and providers of social care are; the interaction between social services and other agencies; the relationships between voluntary and statutory sectors; and the involvement of users and carers in service design and provision. They assess the significance of the breakdown of the traditional distinctions and roles underlying social care, and lay the foundations for effective and coordinated future policy, practice and research. With the publication of the Labour Government's White Paper ''Modernizing Social Services'', the future of social care is set for yet more upheaval. This volume will provide a useful overview of the evolution and destiny of local authority social services for students, practitioners and managers.