The quest for community: From the Settlement Movement to the Griffiths Report: an historical perspective

Abstract

In this chapter, Robert Pinker considers the more recent debates about community care as a key policy idea for social care by focusing on the recovery and cultivation of community that were on display in London in the 1880s in the Settlement Movement, and, in particular, at Toynbee Hall. Toynbee Hall, according to Pinker, was representative of the cross-currents of ideology and interest which were to transform the state–civil society relations in the formulation of British social welfare policies during the twentieth century. Pinker discusses some general issues with respect to formal social services and informal care in Britain. He also describes the community care programme at the University of Kent that focused on the decentralisation and specialisation of social work services for elderly people living in the community. Finally, he comments on the Griffiths proposals for community care and their implications for local authority personal social services.