The Lack of Care Act 2014: Service users? perspectives of a failing adult social care system

Written by a service user, this book illustrates the sad truth of the difference between the rhetoric of what the Care Act 2014 offers and the reality of how adult social care is actually administered. The Care Act 2014 promised so much, but it seems to be business as usual for the people on the receiving end of adult social care services. The Care Act 2014 was destined to fail, because the gatekeepers of the care funding finance – social workers – have not changed.

With a focus on people with physical and sensory impairments, the book shows that there is a lot going wrong with the way adult social care is administered and that many disabled are being failed by the adult social care system. The book requests that social workers practise their profession in compliance with the legislation – the Care Act 2014 – and provide disabled people with the care and support needs they are entitled to. It shows that empathy and honesty is not always at the heart of all actions of some social workers and that disabled people are worthy of respect and that their opinion should be taken seriously, especially with regard to what is best for them.

There is a collection of case studies which show how some disabled people are living in a state of fear and left to struggle without the information and care they need to live a happy life. The case studies are a powerful insight into the alarming and disturbing treatment of some disabled people at the hands of social workers and the adult social care system. They illustrate the failure of the social work industry to carry out their duties and responsibilities and the lack of ethics and empathy in the way some social workers practise.

The case studies give a frank and detailed account of what it can be like for adult social care service users dealing with social workers and the hoops they have to jump through to get what they are entitled to. The voice of disabled people who suffer on the receiving end of adult social care should be heard so that improvements are made in the way adult social care is administered.

The book covers:

1. What adult social care is and some of the history of the law regarding adult social care from the 1600s and the evolution of the disability rights independent living movement;


2. the Care Act 2014 and a handful of sections of the Care Act 2014 for deeper discussion about what entitlements disabled people have under the Care Act 2014;


3. examples of what things are going wrong with the administering of adult social care;


4. complaints regarding adult social care and the types of cases taken to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman;


5. financial assessments and adult social care users being charged to contribute toward their care;


6. how local authorities could make the money they have go further and examples of how local authorities waste money in the administering of adult social care;


7. local authorities reducing their use of care agencies;


8. direct payments for disabled people and potential barriers that can hinder disabled people from using direct payments;


9. the argument that disabled people could do without care agencies if they were given the proper support and outlines the type of support that it is required;


10. the need for local authorities to get adult social care service users intricately involved in the administering of adult social care in order to provide a better adult social care service for less money;


11. a request for local authorities to administer adult social care in compliance with the Care Act 2014 and provide disabled people with the care and support needs they are entitled to. Arguments are made for why this should be done and some suggestions are put forward about how the administering of adult social care by local authorities can be improved.