Words: 3206
Social Policy To gain a better understanding of Social Policy we need to look at its definition: Social Policy is the study of social services and the welfare state. In general terms, it looks at the idea of social welfare, and its relationship to politics and society. The principal areas relate to Policy and administrative practice in social services, including health administration, social security, education, employment services, community care and housing management;
Social problems, including crime, disability, unemployment, mental health, learning disability, and old age; Issues relating to social disadvantage, including race, gender and poverty; and the range of collective social responses to these conditions (http://www2. rgu. ac. uk). One of the earliest examples of social policy was the Elizabethan Act in 1500 which made provisions for the punishment of ‘sturdy beggars’ and ‘the relief of the impotence poor’.
An early piece of legislation to discourage giving to the undeserved and begging but to rather give relief or help to those in genuinely in need. Elizabeth 1st enacted procedures for collecting charitable alms from the wealthier people of the parish to help the poor; a task was usually carried out by churchwardens. This later gave way to the Poor Law Act in 1601 which developed work houses where those in needs could be ‘set to work’ to earn their keep (HNC in Social Care, 2009, Page 49). Social Policy can only be formed if private problems are made public. For xample in the Elizabethan times a private issue could be an individual who encountered absolute poverty which resulted in her/him begging for survival, a problem that was clearly difficult for the person to resolve by her/his self. Private problems grow to become public issues when people experiencing the issues are highlighted in the wider sense thus in the development of ‘work houses’ as stated above, where these individuals could be put to work. Influences on social policy come from a range of directions: Political Parties; influence how welfare is approached and therefore how policies are formed.
For example, there is a range of political parties such as Green Peace who priorities environmental issues over other issues. The Scottish National Party may priorities issues around independence above others etc. It is the Political Parties who are in power that help pass legislation to protect the country’s citizens. Public Opinions; is the ultimate source of the political parties to win votes and stay in power and by doing this the political parties need to take the concerns and opinions of the general public and address the issues important to the public.
Public Opinion can be swayed in many ways for example cyber space is the most up to date place where views can be expressed instantly and anonymously and where it also not as easy to control as traditional news outlets. “Comments, rumours and opinions can be quickly spread between internet groups that make it hard for the government to censor. So instead of just trying to prevent people form having their say, the government is also attempting to change the way they think” (http://news. bbc. co. uk).
Central and Local Government; local government led the way in establishing and delivering services and tackling the problems facing the local community: by developing gas and electricity supplies, building schools and hospitals, and providing better public facilities. Central government had an important role to play in setting nationally acceptable minimum standards. In order for the political party in power to sustain governmental support individual authorities must be able to show that they are not falling below a minimum acceptable standard (http://www. arliament. the-stationery-office. co. uk). Demographics; the branch of sociology that studies the characteristics of human populations. For example, the current rise in the elderly population in the UK will have a direct impact upon care provisions in the future (HNC in Social Care,2009, Page 49). Demographic questionnaires can be used to gauge political or religious affiliation, the literacy levels in the society, the unemployment level as well as the association between illiteracy, political consciousness and economic performance in a selected population sample.
Demographic questionnaires are a good source of gaining public opinions on government policy and product placement depending on gender, race and social class. The funding mechanisms for social care services enable service user’s access to a range of services to support themselves in their own homes, institutional care and hospitals. In terms of finances a legislative framework was introduced, resources were transferred from the National Health Service and the Department of Social Security to local authorities, and social work departments were given a key role in the planning, assessment and commissioning of community care services.
Statutory services; are those required by law to be provided by local authorities or other governing bodies such as: ??? Social Work ( Scotland ) Act 1968 ??? Disabled Persons (Services, Consultations and Representations) Act 1986 ??? NHS and Community Care Act 1990 ??? Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 ??? Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 (http://www. scottish. parliament. uk). Such services are funded by the government where a national budget is set via the Scottish Executive.
Currently the local government is making changes to delivering public services to service users by integrating health and social care staff “public services are designed and delivered around the needs of individuals and the communities within which they live” (In Partnership for a Better Scotland(2003)). Personalisation of public services, to better match the needs and aspirations of the people who use them, underpins much of current and developing public services policy. This stresses giving service users greater personal choice and control over state-subsidised social care services and the transparent allocation of resources (http://www. ocialworkscotland. org. uk). A number of options have been introduced for how the funding is made available: Direct payments; provide an individual with the cash equivalent of the value of the social care package to spend on their own care; there are some restrictions, for example, they cannot use the money to pay cohabiting spouse/relatives for care. Anyone who is entitled to state funding for social care can opt for a direct payment. Independent Living Fund; work in partnership with over 200 local authorities to jointly fund individually tailored care and support packages for disabled people.
I L F also provide close ongoing support to service users. The I L F network of assessors make customer service visits six months after payments start. And the assessors, working with local authorities, make regular review visits at least every two years. Through this support the I L F ensure that disabled people make the most of the funding they get in a way that best meets their needs. Personal budget; is an amount of funding allocated to a user that allows them to control which services that funding is used to purchase.
Individual budgets; have recently been piloted; these are similar to personal budgets, but combine local council social care funds with other care and support funding streams to create a single ‘pot’ of resources for purchasing services (Department of Health 2009) (Teresa Poolepublications@kingsfund. org. uk) Take-up of these options is limited, and most adult social care services are organised by local councils: Voluntary service; is one that does not operate for profit and while many oragnisations can hold specific budgets, there is not an owner of the company to make decisions and profit financially.
Voluntary organizations may be eligible to public money distributed by the government, through a variety of routes, usually in the form of grants, but also now often under a contract. It is one of the most important sources of income for voluntary and community groups. There are numerous pots of money and these are constantly changing in line with changes in government policy. Administration is by a variety of agencies, not always local authorities, and this makes it quite hard to find out about all the statutory money that might be appropriate. The main distributors of statutory funding in Scotland are
Country Governments (for Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland ) Regional Government Local Government European Funding Health Funding Other agencies e. g. Arts Councils, Sports Councils (http://www. fundingscotland. com). Private sector services; are organizations which run for profit. Private sector business provides services which people pay for; unlike voluntary services, profits must be made for the individual or companies which are owners of such services (HNC in Social Care, 2009, Page 64). One example of a private company is where I am employed full time as a support worker.
Informal Care; or unpaid care provide invaluable support, not only to those for whom they care for but for the services already available. An example of an unpaid carer is someone who looks after a family member or a friend diagnosed with a serious illness and who it could involve toileting, bathing and feeding the person who is unwell. Caring is effectively helping another person do those tasks that they are no longer capable of, or never have been capable of, doing alone. As a result, the life of a carer often becomes severely restricted by a variety of caring responsibilities.
Local, National and European government play a large part in social policy in Scotland : There are 32 directly elected local authorities in Scotland which provide local services and receive a large part of their funding from the Government. There are also over 1,200 active community councils in operation across Scotland , whose main objective is to articulate the views of their community and provide a link between communities and councils. Local government has a variety of roles and functions, such as: 1. PROVISION OF SERVICES Local authorities have a long tradition of planning, resourcing and direct provision f a wide range of services. These include education, housing, social work, economic development, public protection, planning, leisure and recreation. 2. STRATEGIC PLANNING Local authorities provide a longer-term strategic planning framework setting objectives based on the needs and priorities of their constituents, to direct both the policies and activities of internal functions and to influence the priorities of external organisations within their areas. 3. REGULATION Local authorities also have regulatory functions such as the granting of certain licenses (e. g. taxi drivers and public houses), and registration and inspection unctions ( e. g. private residential homes). 4. COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP A relatively new role for local authorities is that of community leadership, addressing issues which do not fit neatly with any single agency’s responsibility. (http://www. scottish. parliament. uk) National and European government contributes to the local Government by becoming more forward- and outward-looking… means… learning lessons from other countries. One of the strategies used to change the way social policy is delivered in Scotland is by cooperating with other countries and adopting policy methods that have proven successful. To do this the government eflects on the early developmental stage in the relationship between government and civil society organizations. Encouraging public participation in political life establishes mechanisms for cooperation that will ease the government’s burden in delivering public services. Quality assurance encompasses all planned and systematic actions and programs that are designed to provide confidence that a product or service will meet the customers expectations. The company where I am currently employed as a support worker, were awarded the Investors in People Award for achieving their performance targets and key priorities.
By providing excellent social care services, ensuring services stay responsive, fair and delivering the outcomes people need to live as independently and safely as possible. Also working to improve the companies services by monitoring the quality of their work and by giving people a say in how their services are provided. Evaluating the effectiveness of quality assurance processes in promoting rights and responsibilities of an employee in the company. The service is provided and monitored by the Care Commission and Glasgow City Council who each have a say in how the service is provided.
The Regulation of Care ( Scotland ) Act 2001 is responsible for some major changes in Scotland ‘s care provisions. The act set up two important bodies: the Care Commission (The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care) and the Scottish Social Services Council. The Commission is responsible for the inspection and registrations of care services and identifies those services which adhere to the National Care Standards ??? if a service fails to meet, or fails to comply with the standards, they can lose their registration or face penalties under this law (HNC in Social Care, 2009, Page 21).
Quality assurance is also evaluated in the Codes of Practice. The codes provide a clear guide for all those who work in social work, setting out the standards of practice and conduct workers and their employers should meet. They are a critical part of regulating the workforce and helping to improve levels of professionalism and public protection (http://www. gscc. org. uk). Quality assurance again where the general process of monitoring and evaluating whether specified ‘standards’ of care have been met.
This can be can be understood by looking at the National Care Standards National Standards which is made up of the terms of the Citizen’s Charter and Patient’s Charter introduced by the Conservatives in the 1990s, and of the terms of the National Service Frameworks set up by New Labour in 1997. Both sets of documents outline standards of care which should be common throughout the health system (www. school-portal. co. uk). My company has company policy and procedures manual which clarifies employee expectations about their business policies and communicates corporate standards of action and behaviour.
The manual can also protect the company of whom I’m employed with from possible legal action and exposure to employee fraud. Such policies influence the service provisions such as: Confidentiality and Professionalism Employees work in an environment where information of a confidential nature is constantly in use. This information relates to the individual that the company provides the service for. Sometimes this information is of a highly sensitive nature and there fore staff need to be aware of the need to confidentiality.
This supports the basic human rights to respect, dignity, privacy and choice. It is there fore deemed unprofessional conduct by any employee of my company to divulge any confidential material relating to a service user and or other staff member. If an employee does handle personal information about individuals, they have a number of legal obligations to protect that information under the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Protection Act 1998 was passed by Parliament to control the way information is handled and to give legal rights to people who have information stored about them.
Disciplinary Procedures This is a procedure that the employee has the right to be accompanied by a work colleague, representative of a trade union, professional body or family member during a disciplinary hearing. Verbal Warning: If conduct or performance does not meet the acceptable standards the employee will normally be given a verbal warning. He or she will be advised on the reason for the warning that is the first stage of the Disciplinary Procedure and of his or her right to appeal
Written Warning: If the offense is a series one of if a minor offense occurs following a verbal warning a written warning may be given to the employee by the Line Manager and or Written Director. This will give details of the complaint, the improvement required and the timescale. Final Written Warning: If there is still failure to improve conduct or performance or if the misconduct is sufficiently to warrant only one written warning but insufficiently serious to warrant dismissal will result if there is no satisfactory improvement and will advice the right of appeal.
My company is committed to providing a working environment in which employees are able to realise their full potential and to contribute to its business success irrespective of their gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, part time status, age, religion or belief. In my employment they are committed to identifying and eliminating unlawful discriminatory practices, procedures and attitudes throughout the company and in order to do this there needs to be a policies and procedures set in place.
The Disciplinary procedures are conducive to the SSSC Codes of Practice, which is the body that registers and regulates individual social services workers and has responsibility for workforce development and workforce planning for the sector. Policy for Professional Registration The purpose of this policy is to outline the individual responsibilities in relation to professional registration with regulatory bodies. Ensuring that they are compliant with the terms and conditions of employment as outlined in the Regulation of Care ( Scotland ) Act 2001.
This policy applies to all employees including temporary and agency staff who may be employed on the organisation behalf to provide a support service. This policy works in unison with all the organisational policy and procedures. Developing Policy and Procedures Policy and Procedures are prepared by one of the directors in my company who are influenced by changes to The Regulation of Care ( Scotland ) Act 2001 and the Law. The policy and procedures are set to protect the users of the services, staff and employees and to attempt to guide practice with in the existing legal framework.
The employees are sent individual copies of new/amended policies to familiarize themselves and training is also mandatory when a policy is updated. The purpose of this procedure is to set out the mechanism for improving plans for individuals who are looked after by our company. Rights and Responsibilities My employer is committed to providing a safe, high quality service that is designed around the needs of their service users and their carers and families. Some of the ways in which rights & responsibilities are promoted within my agency are:
To ensure that everyone involved in direct provision have the necessary skills, my company have a robust recruitment and induction procedure which has been approved by the Care Commission. This involves: An Enhanced Disclosure which continues every three years from the start of their employment. A week long induction training course that covers all mandatory training courses: Health and Safety, First Aid, Food Hygiene, Adult Protection, Moving and Handling which is updated yearly from the start of employment.
All staff receives support and supervision every two months which is an opportunity to formally discuss a range of issues that may exist either personally or professionally and support is given as appropriate. Word Count: 3032 http://www2. rgu. ac. uk/publicpolicy/introduction/socpolf. htm#Social%20Policy%20and%20Administratio (online on the 20. 5. 11) HNC in Social Care, Elizabeth Bingham, Cathy Busby, Aileen Conner, Billy Greir, Sue Price, Hellen Russel, Shona Shaw, First published 2009, Page 49, 64, 21, (http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/7783640. tm) (on line on the 20. 5. 11) (http://www. parliament. the-stationery-office. co. uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmcomloc/33/33i. pdf) (on line on the 20. 5. 11) (http://www. scottish. parliament. uk/business/research/pdf_res_notes/rn01-23. pdf) (on line on the 20. 5. 11) (http://www. socialworkscotland. org. uk/resources/pub/ChangingLivesScottishExecutiveResponse. pdf) (on line on the 20. 5. 11) (Teresa Poolepublications@kingsfund. org. uk) (on line on the 20. 5. 11) (http://www. fundingscotland. com/aboutus. asp) (on line on the 20. 5. 11)