Social Services

Abstract

The statutory core of the personal social services in England and Wales consists of 116 local authority Social Services Departments (SSDs). Central government has opportunities for effecting specific and intended changes in local policies and practices, provided the overall effects of different elements of central–local relations are systematically taken into account. In practice the implementation strategy adopted has been to seek to recreate locally, through the medium of collaboration between the National Health Service (NHS) and local authorities, the system-wide perspective adopted at the centre. Systematic attempts at co-ordinating forward planning across the health and personal social services, begun in the early 1960s, were strengthened in the early 1970s. The mechanisms were clearly designed to establish joint planning as an integral part of the NHS planning system. Joint finance is a relatively small allocation of NHS funds earmarked for expenditure by the SSDs and the voluntary sector for purposes approved by health authorities.