social services

Families information services: evaluation of services provided

This report begins with a summary giving the background; key findings; notes on childcare information; advice and assistance - the brokerage service; information about other services, facilities and publications; information on services for disabled children, children with special educational needs and for disabled parents; access to the information service; service delivery; changes made as a result of the extended information duty requirements; and barriers, ending with recommendations and notes on limitations of the research. The main text then pursues these themes in detail.

Person-centred support: what service users and practitioners say

This study examines person-centred support, a key new concern in public services. It does this by bringing together for the first time the views, ideas and experience of service users, face to face practitioners and managers. Government is committed to ‘personalisation’, ‘self-directed support’ and ‘individual budgets’ in social care, aiming for increased choice and control for the people who use services. This is a move away from traditional, 'one-size-fits-all' approaches.

Refuge for young runaways in the UK: a critical overview

This report deals with the concept of 'refuge' for children under the age of sixteen who are away from home or care, as established under section 51 of the Children's Act 1989 and section 38 of The Children's (Scotland) Act 1995. It discusses the factors affecting its provision in the UK and goes on to detail a series of pilot programmes, run between 2004-2006. These were funded by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills, aimed to extend the models of community-based refuge.

Good Practice: Creative ways to promote personalisation

Describes some creative ways of promoting personalisation to service users and practitioners. The four methods highlighted are: A board game called 'Whose shoes? - putting people first'; a website (shop4support) where people who use social care support services can choose them online; Social Care TV - to be launched by SCIE in October - which will include video about personalisation, and attending regional personalisation roadshows.

Unlocking innovation : why citizens hold the key to public service reform (Demos collection 24)

Collection of papers focusing on the theme of renewing and refocusing understanding of innovation. It explores the notion that everyday interactions between people and public services are a potential source of new ideas and that public services should be developed through participation and co-production.