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The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on long-standing, structural race inequality in Britain. This paper aims to review historic patterns of ethnic diversity among the workforce employed in services for older people to present some of the lessons that can be learned from the pandemic.

A historical overview was undertaken of research about ethnic diversity in the social care workforce.

Too often, the ethnic diversity of the social care workforce has been taken as evidence that structural racial inequalities do not exist. Early evidence about the impact of coronavirus on workers from black and minority ethnic groups has led to initiatives aimed at reducing risk among social care employers in the independent sector and in local government. This offers a blueprint for further initiatives aimed at reducing ethnic inequalities and promoting ethnic diversity among the workforce supporting older people.

The increasing ethnic diversity of the older population and the UK labour force highlights the importance of efforts to address what is effective in reducing ethnic inequalities and what works in improving ethnic diversity within the social care workforce and among those using social care services for older people.

The ethnic makeup of the workforce reflects a complex reality based on multiple factors, including historical patterns of migration and gender and ethnic inequalities in the UK labour market.

The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the changes to the content and delivery of care work in the context of developments in the wider labour market.

A total of 240 interviews with social care practitioners and managers were undertaken at Time 1 (T1) (2009–2012) and Time 2 (T2) (2011–2014) in four local council sites in England. A final round of interviews (T3) with managers (n=60) and staff (n=60) took place between 2015 and 2018.

The way in which many workers found meaning and satisfaction within their work was an important way by which many of them tempered dissatisfaction with pay, status and working conditions. Some workers used the concepts of ethical practice and vocation to differentiate themselves from other workers and organisations whom they considered lack these qualities and from what they saw as a wider societal perception that their work was unskilled and unfulfilling.

The interview data may not be generalisable or totally representative of care staff. Those employers who agreed to participate may have been more committed to workforce development and valued their staff more highly. Nonetheless, data were sector wide and there were sizeable numbers of participants.

Pride and job satisfaction are important aspects of job satisfaction in care work and could be fostered in care services and by older people.

Negative perceptions of care work within society may act as a barrier to recruitment and retention. Older people might help raise the positive profile of care work.

This is a unique data set from which to document long-term determinants of job satisfaction in care work.

There is increasing interest in befriending services that aim to combat loneliness among older people. The purpose of this paper is to use the Equality Act 2010 as a framework for considering why older people might need these services and why some groups are over and under represented among service users.

Databases, websites and other resources were searched systematically for material on befriending. The final review consisted of 80 items, ranging from research articles, reports, and toolkits.

Individual face to face befriending has been the mainstay of the type of befriending support for older people. The increasing diversity of the older population and reductions in funding has led to adaptations of this model for different groups living in different circumstances.

The resources and time available to conduct the review were limited. It is possible that some relevant material was not identified.

Practitioners working with older people need to know about befriending schemes available in their area and consider the reasons why some groups of older people might be reluctant to use them or require specialist schemes.

Existing research on befriending rarely reports the demographic characteristics of those using the service in detail or considers why some groups of older people might have greater needs for befriending services or be reluctant to use them. The Equality Act 2010 provides a structured framework for considering diversity in access to, and use of, services.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the equalities’ dimension of falls prevention services in light of the Equality Act 2010 and its protected characteristics. Research and policy are discussed in light of the Act and public services’ duties to be aware of their responsibilities.

An initial research review was undertaken in 2012 and updated in 2016.

The research on falls prevention services does not always collect data on users of the service and services do not always collect data about their users that would enable them to build a picture of their users in line with the Equality Act 2010.

Services and commissioners will need to be able to show that the services funded by the public purse are accessible, acceptable and appropriate to the UK’s increasingly diverse older population. This paper describes some of the existing resources and research papers that contain elements of attention to the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010.

This is an update on a research review undertaken in 2012.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss both the early implementation of a US mental health intervention for young children in the context of its introduction to a pilot site in a London borough and the progress made in establishing a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

This paper describes an evaluation of a new intervention and the learning that followed in terms of its implementation and future evaluation. Qualitative data were collected from a range of stakeholders and practitioners through interviews and small group discussions. These interviews focussed on both of these issues, with particular reference to the proposal to conduct an RCT.

The findings of this evaluation add to the evidence on how best to support new initiatives that have been introduced from other settings and countries to embed in a receiving site and the optimal timing and feasibility of conducting an RCT. At the end of the feasibility study, which took place within the year of the service being introduced and which was only open to clients for six months of this year the conclusion was that an RCT at that point was neither possible nor desirable. Over the following years, the commitment of the judiciary to examine if there was a way to make an RCT study in respect of this intervention meant that a template was established that may well have broader application.

At a time when there is an increasing demand for evidence on effective interventions this paper makes a valuable contribution to the development of RCTs in general and specifically in the family court arena. It also recommends that attention must also be paid to the time, which is needed to implement and establish interventions and then to test them.

This paper highlights the need to establish realistic timescales not only around the implementation of initiatives but also for their evaluation.

This study breaks new ground in considering implementation challenges in the court and children’s services’ context. It brings to the fore the important role of the judiciary in approving new processes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of personalisation policy on the providers of social care services in England, mainly to older people, within the context of austerity and different conceptions of personalisation.

The paper draws on part of a longitudinal study of the care workforce, which involved 188 interviews with managers and staff, undertaken in two rounds.

Four themes were identified: changing understandings and awareness of personalisation; adapting services to fit new requirements; differences in contracting; and the impact on business viability.

The paper reflects a second look at the data focussing on a particular theme, which was not the focus of the research study. Furthermore, the data were gathered from self-selecting participants working in services in four contrasting areas, rather than a representative sample.

The research raises questions about the impact of a commercial model of “personalised care”, involving personal budgets (PBs) and spot contracts, on the stability of social care markets. Without a pluralistic, well-funded and vibrant social care market, it is hard to increase the consumer choice of services from a range of possible providers and, therefore, fulfil the government’s purposes for personalisation, particularly in a context of falling revenues from local authorities.

The research presents an analysis of interviews with care providers and care workers mainly working with older people. Their views on personalisation have not often been considered in contrast to the sizeable literature on PBs recipients and social workers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the content, purpose and effectiveness of the handover of information between care home staff beginning and completing a shift.

This was an exploratory study drawing on ethnographic methods. A total of 27 interviews with a range of care home staff, including managers, registered nurses, senior care workers and care workers were undertaken in five care homes selected to give a good contrast in terms of size, ownership, shift patterns and type of handover.

Most handovers were short – lasting 15 min or so – and were held in the office or secluded area in which staff could talk privately. They lasted longer in one home in which the incoming and outgoing shifts physically visited each resident’s room and the communal spaces. Staff felt that handovers were important for the efficient running of the home as well as to alert everyone to changes in a resident’s health or important events, such as a hospital appointment. In one home, handheld devices enabled staff to follow a resident’s care plan and update what was happening in real time.

This was a small scale study based on data from a limited number of care homes.

The increasing popularity of 12 h shifts means that many homes only hold two short handovers early in the morning and in the evening when the night staff arrive. There appears to be a trend to reduce the number of staff paid to attend handover. Despite this, handovers remain an important component of the routine of a care home. The information contained in handover relates to the running of the care home, as well as residents’ wellbeing, suggesting that, while their content overlaps with written records in the home, they are not superfluous.

Although the literature on handovers in hospitals is extensive, this appears to be the first published study of handover practices in care homes.

Signs of Safety (SoS) is a strengths-based approach to child protection casework that has been widely adopted in countries across the world. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that aimed to synthesise the many evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to assess their strengths and limitations. The intention is to identify the aspects which should be explored further and those that remain unexamined to inform future evaluations.

The study collated and then examined many of the evaluations that are in the public domain as well as some of those that were conducted within agencies and have not been made publicly available.

At the present time (early 2019), the evidence base for SoS is limited. Independent, robust research needs to be undertaken over time to build on the studies that have been conducted. New research must be designed to fill gaps and be capable of producing the evidence required and it must address its own limitations.

This study is the most comprehensive contemporary review of the evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of media reactions to the BBC Television Panorama programme, Behind Closed Doors’ and to set this in the context of interviews with care staff about their reflections on publicity about poor practice in the care sector.

This paper reports on an analysis of media reactions to recent exposé of abuse in social care in England and data from an interview-based study of care workers. The interviews were analysed to consider the impact of such media reports on staff and to explore their views of action that might be need to be taken about care failings.

There are mixed reactions to exposé of poor care on television and to the debates that precede and follow their broadcast. Debates occur in print and on television, but also in social media. The particular exposé of care home practices by the Panorama programme, Behind Closed Doors, led to debate in England about the potential role of covert cameras in care homes. The interviews revealed that while care staff are affected by scandals in the media about social care, they do not necessarily focus on themes that the media stories subsequently highlight. Overall some are disenchanted while others have ideas of what needs to change to improve practice. Care staff consider that there remain problems in raising concerns about practices and some staff feel unable to stay in workplaces where they have made complaints.

The care workers interviewed may not be representative of the sector and they may have wished to provide socially acceptable answers to the researchers. Practice was not observed.

Local Safeguarding Adult Boards may wish to develop a communications strategy to deal with requests for reactions to media reports locally and nationally. Safeguarding practitioners may wish to prepare for increased referrals following media coverage of poor care in their areas. They may later be able to use media reports to discuss any local differences of interpretation over matters such as prosecutions for abuse. Trainers and educationalists may wish to clarify the importance given by care providers to raising concerns, the ways in which difficult conversations can be held, and the protections available to whistle-blowers or those raising concerns – with local examples to provide assurance that this is not mere rhetoric.

Television reports of problems with social care attract wide media interest but the authors know very little about how care workers respond to depictions of their work and their occupational grouping. This paper links media and expert commentator reactions to television exposé with data acquired from interviews with those on the frontline of care.