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Increasing access to Care Act 2014 assessments and personal budgets among people with experiences of homelessness and multiple exclusion: a theoretically informed case study

Michelle Cornes (Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London, London, UK)
Bruno Ornelas (Voices, Fulfilling Lives: Supporting People with Multiple Needs in Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke-on-Trent, UK)
Bridget Bennett (Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Stoke-on-Trent, UK)
Andy Meakin (Voices, Fulfilling Lives: Supporting People with Multiple Needs in Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke-on-Trent, UK)
Karl Mason (Department of Social Work, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, UK)
James Fuller (Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London, London, UK)
Jill Manthorpe (Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London, London, UK)

Housing, Care and Support

ISSN: 1460-8790

Article publication date: 19 March 2018

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study describing the progress that is being made in one city in England to increase access to Care Act 2014 assessments and personal budgets among people with experiences of homelessness and multiple exclusion.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study employing a “study group” to describe and reflect on local development work.

Findings

The authors focus on the “systems change” activity that was undertaken by one voluntary sector partnership project to address issues of referral and access to adult social care. This included the development of a “Multiple Needs Toolkit” designed to support voluntary sector workers to communicate more effectively with adult social care around the application of the new Care Act 2014 eligibility thresholds. The authors discuss the role of “persistent advocacy” in increasing access to assessments and also the limitations of this as regard the potential for poorer joint working.

Originality/value

Throughout, the authors draw on the “ambiguity-conflict” model of policy implementation to assess if the learning from this single case study might be applied elsewhere.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s College London for funding this work. The authors also grateful to the Social Work Department at Royal Holloway London and VOICES who hosted events as part of this work. The views expressed are those of the authors and not those of the funders.

Citation

Cornes, M., Ornelas, B., Bennett, B., Meakin, A., Mason, K., Fuller, J. and Manthorpe, J. (2018), "Increasing access to Care Act 2014 assessments and personal budgets among people with experiences of homelessness and multiple exclusion: a theoretically informed case study", Housing, Care and Support, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/HCS-09-2017-0022

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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