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Amongst other actions the Care Act 2014 emphasised the duties of local authorities (LA) to assess the needs of carers, as well as those they care for and to meet all eligible needs for support. This paper aims to report the findings of a study which explored the experiences of older carers of people with learning disabilities as they navigated LA assessment processes and personnel.

Using an explorative design, 21 older carers were interviewed about their experiences. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analysed.

Three main themes were identified, namely, needs assessments as ambitions, not outcomes; the effects of funding-cuts projected onto carers; and challenges with social care personnel.

The study findings attracted a high level of engagement with public awareness and mainstream news and social media. The LA also immediately responded with interventions to address some of the findings, including carer “drop-in” sessions. They are also adapting their carer’s needs assessment processes as a result of the study. It is hoped that the issues raised will be of interest to other social care providers and practitioners.

Because people with learning disabilities (LD) are living longer, their family carers are likely to continue their caring role for longer. This study aims to explore the experiences of older carers of people with LD.

In total, 16 interviews with older carers were carried out and analysed qualitatively.

Three main themes emerged from the data: “transition to retirement is a misnomer”; “impact of caring role”; and “fears for the future”.

Previous studies have not focussed on the specific experiences of “older” carers and their situation risks going unnoticed. Their experiences should be acknowledged by services and society and meaningful support provided.

Research on high growth firms is booming yet a strong conceptual understanding of how these firms obtain (and sustain) rapid growth remains (at best) partial. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the role founders play in enabling episodes of rapid growth and how they help navigate this process.

This paper reports the findings from a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs enlisted onto a publicly funded high growth business accelerator programme in Wales. These interviews explored the causes of the firms rapid growth, their key growth trigger points and the organisational consequences of rapid growth.

The research reveals that periods of high growth are intrinsically and inextricably inter-linked with the entrepreneurial traits and capabilities of their founders coupled with their ability to “sense” and “seize” pivotal growth opportunities. It also demonstrates founder-level dynamic capabilities enable firms to capitalise on pivotal “trigger points” thereby enabling their progression to a new “dynamic state” in a firm’s temporal evolution.

The novel approach towards theory building deployed herein is the use of theoretical elaboration as means of extending important existing theoretical constructs such as growth “trigger points” and founder dynamic capabilities. To capitalise on these trigger points, founders have to undergo a process of “temporal transitioning” to effectively manage and execute the growth process in firms. The work also has important policy implications, underlining the need for more relational forms of support for entrepreneurial founders.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to effectively end race-conscious admissions practices across the nation, this paper highlights the law’s commitment to whiteness and antiblackness, invites us to mourn and to connect to possibility.

Drawing from the theoretical contributions of Cheryl Harris, Jarvis Givens and Chezare Warren, as well as the wisdom of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissenting opinion, this paper utilizes CRT composite counterstory methodology to illuminate the antiblack reality of facially “race-neutral” admissions.

By manifesting the impossible situation that SFFA and the Supreme Court’s majority seek to normalize, the composite counterstory illuminates how Justice Jackson’s hypothetical enacts a fugitive pedagogy within a dominant legal system committed to whiteness as property; invites us to mourn, to connect to possibility and to remain committed to freedom as an intergenerational project that is inherently humanizing.

In a sobering moment where we face the end of race-conscious admissions, this paper uniquely grapples with the contradictions of affirmative action as minimally effective while also radically disruptive.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on the article by Rachel Forrester-Jones on the experiences of older carers of people with learning disabilities.

The commentary reflects on the themes identified in the original article, comparing its findings to the lived experiences of those taking part in older carers’ projects in Oxfordshire, England.

Similar broad themes were identified in both samples. Given these findings, the extent to which matters have changed, since the Valuing People work on older carers is considered.

The paper discusses policy and practice implications to improve the quality of life of older carers and their families and explores how the voice of older carers can be strengthened to enable them to shape practice and policy.

This case series describes the startup of Farm to School of Park County, an emerging nonprofit organization in the US state of Montana. Case (A) describes the community, the need, and the origins of Farm to School in Livingston, Montana. The leaders of Farm to School face a budget crisis and need to evaluate four options to decide whether, when, and how it should become an independent organization. As Case (B) begins, Farm to School has decided to enter into a fiscal sponsorship agreement with the local community foundation. The next task for the organization's leaders is recruiting founding board members. They need to decide whom to ask and how to do it. In Case (C), the board develops a strategic plan and establishes committees. However, the board members and leaders start to feel fatigue in the face of the demands of a startup organization, leading to questions about what is truly strategic and how work will get done. The Farm to School organization in Case (D) has just issued its first annual report, filled with meaningful accomplishments. The leaders of the organization begin to plan to build an organization that will outlast them and the founding board members.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “Older carers of people with learning disabilities: their experiences with local authority assessment processes and personnel” written by Rachel Forrester-Jones.

This commentary considers the experiences of older carers in the context of research, legislative and policy changes over the past 30+ years.

The needs of older carers of adults with learning disabilities are well recognised within the (limited) literature. Less attention has been given to practical strategies to identify and support such carers or to their broader family context.

This commentary highlights that assessors carrying out carers’ needs assessments should consider whether adults with learning disabilities are providing care to their older relative. The recognition of possible mutual or reciprocal care needs to be acknowledged and appropriate support offered.

This paper aims to look at the recent UK Court of Appeal decision in Jones v Ruth and explores whether building works are capable of being construed as harassment by the Courts.

The paper looks at the concept of harassment as used in the Prevention of Harassment Act 1997 and how this applies in the context of building operations. It adopts a black letter or doctrinal approach to the study.

Whilst it is confirmed that a certain amount of inconvenience due to building operations is not actionable in English law, the Court of Appeal in this case has confirmed that in cases where harassment is proven, then substantial damages may be imposed on the offending party. This has implications not only for building contractors but for construction professionals such as architects or building surveyors who are involved in supervising contractors.

This research takes the subject of construction law into uncharted territory. Previously it was thought by many observers that the Prevention of Harassment Act was confined to cases involving employment law and/or sexual or racial discrimination. Jones v Ruth shatters this previous thinking in this area and confirms that “harassment” cases can be applied in building projects. It is arguable that were Jones v Ruth merely a High Court decision, then only a limited weight might be given to the verdict. However, Jones v Ruth now is a Court of Appeal decision which gives an authoritative voice to the verdict by some of the most powerful judges in the land.

The practical implication is that building surveyors supervising building works need to be aware of the law to avoid being sued for harassment.

It might have been taken for granted that all building works involve noise, dust, vibration, etc. Jones v Ruth confirms that in extreme circumstances it is possible to recover large damages for harassment and that all persons involved in the construction process ought to take note.

There is an expanding body of law dealing with compensation for inconvenience and disturbance, however there is a paucity of literature dealing with the implications of this for building surveyors and construction professionals. This paper explores claims for harassment through the lens of a major Court of Appeal decision in a succinct and practical way to allow academics and practitioners an insight into this expanding area of construction law.