Abstract
I think the idea of a series of books that examine critical debates about social work and social policy is timely, given the politics of austerity and challenges to public services in the UK. The collection offers space for a number of constituencies to highlight the problems and to offer some radical approaches that change the relationships between the state and non-state sectors, employees, service users and carers, trades unionists and other organisations.
I liked the structure of the book (used elsewhere in the series) where the series editors set the scene, ask for responses and then offer a rejoinder. Generally there was a consensus about the causes of the problems facing systems of adult social care, including the approach to privatisation/contracting of services with its origins in the 1980s, and more recent manifestations, including instrumental uses of the personalisation agenda and the general attempts to privatise various aspects of the public sector.
However, I found the content of the book rather uneven (perhaps this is inevitable given the range of contributions and the constituencies they represent). As Lymbery points out, not many academics and activists could deny the general tenor of the Introduction. It is polemical in nature (and not as well underpinned by reference to literature on policy and practice as to be found in other such chapters in the series) and begins with a critique of contemporary policy in England. There is then quite a long history of social policy using a Marxist analysis. I felt that a briefer account of this history could come earlier in the chapter, tapering towards the analysis of contemporary aspects of capitalism and the welfare state (associated with the Big Society, localism, personalisation). The conclusion highlights a number of general strategies that can be used to challenge these processes – for example through building alliances at local, national and international levels. The chapter helpfully sets the policy scene, in this critical/radical way, but, it largely remains a policy analysis that is often tangentially connected to social work practices, a point discussed below.
Bill Jordan manages to capture a moment in British history, around the period of the 2012 Olympics and the disjuncture with ongoing austerity and its impact upon systems of social welfare. Lymbery’s academically more sophisticated approach is more firmly underpinned by reference to the literature, revealing the contradictions in policy and practice across a number of adult services domains; alluding to not just the attack from the right on services, but inherent problems created by the welfare state and professionals. I would have liked to have heard more about the implications for social work practice, what would a radical practice look like? Whitfield provides a largely sympathetic response to the Introduction, again employing a critique to various aspects of policy in terms of relationship between local and national government funding, marketisation and personalisation. But with a more grounded approach to solutions, through challenges to marketisation, democratisation, more radical funding approaches, engagement with communities and service user groupings.
The next three contributions, provided by authors from Scotland, highlight the everyday experiences of service users, carers and trades unionists in dealing with the impact of austerity on services, individuals, families and communities. These help expose the degradation of services and, paradoxically, the closing down of choice and decision making by service users and carers.
I welcome the content of the series and feel that aspects of this book will clearly be of interest to students, academics and organisations and communities seeking to effect social and political change in this crucial area of health and social welfare in the UK. However, I feel there is an important omission. If the series really is about radical/critical social work (and not just about policy), then the voice/experience of social work practitioners needs to be more present. I would also have liked to have read about in more depth, critical analysis of legal contexts – for example the overuse of coercive mental health laws, something around the changes to capacity law that affect policy and practice for adults generally. And finally there is a bit of a difficulty faced by many authors writing about the UK. We have now four increasingly disparate jurisdictions and policy-making contexts. This implies that there is a differentiated effect of austerity, cuts on organisations, social workers, service users and carers depending on where we live. This also suggests that there may be more locations for radical change.