The Social Services

Abstract

In most industrialized societies, the last two decades have seen a major growth in personal social services provided to citizens by the state. In England, over a quarter of a million people now work for local authority social services: about the same number work for the National Coal Board. Local authority social services in England accommodate, feed, and have legal care over considerable numbers of people. For instance, over 139 000 old and handicapped people live in local authority homes; 41 million meals are provided each year by meals-on-wheels services or in local daycentres; and local authorities have 96 000 children in care (DHSS, 1978a). Local authority social services are remarkable not just for their size, but also for the variety of their provision for different groups in the community. For the elderly and handicapped, they may provide not only homes and meals, but also home helps, adaptations to homes, a wide range of aids for daily living, daycentres and social clubs, holidays, telephones, and television licenses. For the mentally and physically handicapped, local authority social services may provide workplaces and training centres. For children, there may be nurseries, playgroups, community homes (including former approved schools), remand centres, foster-parents, adoption services, and child-minders. Local authority social services may also give cash grants or loans to parents as a means of preventing children coming into care. Apart from all these services, local authorities provide a network of advice centres open to all members of the public, but dealing particularly with people experiencing emotional stress or material shortages. In all, local authority social services spent some £1192 million in 1976/7, making this the second most costly item in county and metropolitan borough budgets.