The government responded to a consultation on proposals to enshrine in legislation the principle that disabled people had the right to choose who delivered their services and how they received them. It said that the next step was to develop regulations to provide local authorities with a more detailed framework for the 'Trailblazers' (ie pilot stage).
Source: Making Choice and Control a Reality for Disabled People: Government Response to the Consultation on the Right to Control, Office for Disability Issues
Links: Response | Consultation replies | Consultation document | Hansard
Date: 2009-Dec
A report (for an official advisory body) examined the evidence on two issues affecting disabled people. The first part examined what choice and control meant to disabled people, highlighting the key issues and drivers that had the biggest impact in improving choice and control – including choice in community living, personal budgets, and provision of equipment. The second part of the report looked at the evidence on the barriers faced and improvements needed by disabled people to access transport, housing, the built environment, information technology, and leisure services.
Source: Mark Priestley, Sarah Woodin, Bryan Matthews and Laura Hemingway, Choice and Control/Access to Goods and Services, Office for Disability Issues (office-for-disability-issues@dwp.gsi.gov.uk)
Links: Report | Summary (1) | Summary (2)
Date: 2009-Nov
Researchers examined parental experience of services for disabled children.
Source: Zoe Slade, Alice Coulter and Lucy Joyce, Parental Experience of Services for Disabled Children: Qualitative research, Research Report RR147, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040) | Vicky Campbell-Hall, Alice Coulter and Lucy Joyce, Parental Experience of Services for Disabled Children: Qualitative research (Phase 2) – Exploring the findings from the national survey, RR161, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report 147 | Report 161
Date: 2009-Sep
An article examined recent developments in the modernization of adult social care, through the lens of changes to English day services. The disabled people's movement and the government had increasingly divergent approaches to self-directed support. In the absence of adequate funding and access to organizations of disabled people, day service recipients risked moving from a position of enforced collectivism to an enforced individualism 'characteristic of neo-liberal constructions of economic life'.
Source: Alan Roulstone and Hannah Morgan, 'Neo-liberal individualism or self-directed support: are we all speaking the same language on modernising adult social care?', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Aug
The government began consultation on proposals to enshrine in legislation the principle that disabled people had the right to choose who delivered their services and how they received them.
Source: Making Choice and Control a Reality for Disabled People: Consultation on the right to control, Office for Disability Issues/Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | DWP press release | Community Care report (1) | Community Care report (2)
Date: 2009-Jun
The broadcasting regulator published research into measures that would encourage industry to develop communications equipment, products, and services that better met the needs of older and disabled people.
Source: Jonathan Freeman and Jane Lessiter, Exploring How Manufacturers, Suppliers and Retailers Address the Needs of Older and Disabled People: What are the barriers and drivers?, Office of Communications (020 7981 3000)
Links: Report | Ofcom press release
Date: 2009-Jun
The first survey of its kind examined the levels of satisfaction among parents of disabled children in relation to services provided by health, education, and social care services – including the quality of assessments, and the levels of information provided.
Source: Local Authority Measure of Services to Disabled Children (National Indicator 54): 2008-09, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | CDC press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-May
The equality and human rights watchdog published a three-point plan designed to address the safety and security of disabled people. A linked research report said that disabled people were at greater risk of being victims of targeted violence and hostility; and those with learning disabilities and mental health conditions faced the greatest risk.
Source: Promoting the Safety and Security of Disabled People, Equality and Human Rights Commission (020 3117 0235) | Chih Hoong Sin, Annie Hedges, Chloe Cook, Nina Mguni and Natasha Comber, Disabled People's Experiences of Targeted Violence and Hostility, Research Report 21, Equality and Human Rights Commission (web publication only)
Links: Plan | Research report | EHRC press release | Mencap press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Apr
A report examined the level to which disabled young people who lacked capacity in one particular aspect or all aspects of their life were involved in the decision-making process relating to their transition to adulthood.
Source: Janet Badger, Making Choice a Reality: The impact of the Mental Capacity Act on young people in transition to adulthood, Social Care Institute for Excellence (020 7089 6840)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Apr
The social care inspectorate said that local councils in England were failing to offer adequate support to disabled parents, with many people falling into the gap between adult and children's services.
Source: Supporting Disabled Parents: A family or fragmented approach?, Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release | Mencap press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Feb
A report highlighted a lack of support for older people who cared for adult children with disabilities. More should be done to enhance the development of life skills and employability for disabled adults who were cared for by their parents.
Source: Karola Dillenburger, What the Future Holds: Older people as carers of adult dependant children with disabilities, Changing Ageing Partnership c/o Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research/Queen's University Belfast (028 9097 2549)
Links: QUB press release
Date: 2009-Feb
The social care inspectorate said that only 1 in 3 social services departments reported having taken specific action to address disability equality issues. Equality for disabled people would only be achieved if care providers focused on the barriers that disabled people faced.
Source: Putting People First: Equality and Diversity Matters 3 – Achieving disability equality in social care services, Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Feb
An article examined the five principles of the newly enacted Mental Capacity Act 2005, and set them in the context of day-to-day decisions over care and treatment. These areas were relatively neglected, in contrast to major decisions about financial planning, deprivation of liberty, and healthcare. Social policy had often found it difficult to encroach upon areas covering intimate and family-based care relationships or the private domain of care at home.
Source: Nicky Stanley and Jill Manthorpe, 'Small acts of care: exploring the potential impact of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 on day-to-day support', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Jan