FROM PROVIDING TO ENABLING: LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND THE MIXED ECONOMY OF SOCIAL CARE |
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| Authors: | G WISTOW M KNAPP B HARDY C ALLEN |
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| Institution: | G. Wistow is a Senior Lecturer, and B. Hardy is a Research Fellow, at the Nuffield Institute for Health Service Studies, University of Leeds;M. Knapp is Professor of the Economics of Social Care at the University of Kent;C. Allen is a Research Fellow at the University of the West Indies, Barbados. |
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| Abstract: | Government policy seeks to introduce competition into the supply of social care through the separation of purchasing and providing responsibilities. A study of 24 local authority social service departments has explored the initial steps taken to prepare for the new enabling role, including the creation of a mixed economy of care. Very few were seeking to create a market in social care. Most argued that the inherent nature of social care rendered the introduction of service specifications and price mechanisms neither approriate nor feasible. Many authorities interpreted the enabling role in ways significantly different from that of the government. The study raises questions about the extent of local discretion in a context where the range of values and interests of implementing agencies may differ from those of the centre. |
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