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Tackling alcohol harm: lessons from other fields

There a clear need to change attitudes, knowledge and behaviour relating to alcohol in the UK. This report presents seven case studies, each telling the story of an initiative designed to bring about attitudinal, behavioural or policy change, for example sustainable transport use or youth smoking prevention. This novel approach provides a unique insight into how the application of new thinking may help to reduce harmful drinking patterns. This report examines how initiatives successfully used in other fields can help inform new strategies for tackling alcohol related harm.

Unkind, risk averse and untrusting - if this is today's society, can we change it?

The JRF’s recent public consultation revealed a strong sense of unease about some of the changes shaping British society. This Viewpoint continues the discussion about modern 'social evils' on the theme of ‘a decline in values’. Julia Neuberger argues that we can change society for the better by deliberately rebuilding trust, opening up our institutions, and stopping the ‘blame culture’ from preventing simple acts of kindness and altruism.

How can we make the housing market more stable for vulnerable households?

In July 2009, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation established a taskforce to address the root causes of instability in the UK housing market. Whether in a boom or a downturn, the shortage of affordable housing hits the most vulnerable households first and worst. These Viewpoints – commissioned as part of the programme and aimed at stimulating debate – provide two different perspectives on the kinds of reforms needed to provide long-term, secure housing for those least able to afford it.

Review of Research on Vulnerable Young People and Their Transitions to Independent Living

A literature review carried out by the University of Edinburgh in August 2007 which found that most young people move on from being looked after at 16 or 17 years; this tends to be an abrupt transition which has been referred to as 'accelerated and compressed', further impacting on other aspects of their lives such as education, relationships and health and well-being.

Facing the cost of long-term care: Towards a sustainable funding system - Facing the cost of long-term care: Towards a sustainable funding system

A review of the issues around paying for long-term care for older people, asking how the current system could be improved. This study brings together evidence and discussions assembled by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It identifies some key challenges that need addressing in order to start moving towards a fairer, more rational and adequate system of funding It deliberately avoids proposing a radical redesign of the whole system, though there is a case for that. Rather it provides a platform for sensible discussion of how to design improvements in the funding system.

Empowerment, racist incidents and casework practice

Casework practice is the process whereby, for example, housing officers, anti-social behaviour officers and neighbourhood wardens work with a tenant who has reported a racist incident to help resolve a complaint. This article focuses on the need for racist/hate incident case workers to be aware of the value of empowerment, and to be able to offer an empowering service when working directly with clients.

Britain's poorest children : severe and persistent poverty and social exclusion

The current Labour government has made a commitment to abolish child poverty in Britain by 2020. In its efforts to do so, a number of targets have been established and indicators of progress are being reviewed annually. However, tackling severe child poverty does not feature in these targets or indicators. In fact, although there is now a wealth of information about child poverty in Britain, very little is known about either the extent of severe child poverty or the children who are affected.

Local and National Information Requirements for Social Work inScotland : Joint StatementAugust 2000

This document concludes the first stage of a serious and systematic attempt to address the deficiencies in the social work information base in Scotland. Senior social work managers, the wider local government community, the Scottish Executive and the Accounts Commission for Scotland have all demonstrated their commitment to working together, through the Social Work Information Review Group, to define a list of information about social work that will meet the needs of all the organisations.