Experts set to examine major new welfare challenges
Posted on 11 September 2006
At a London seminar on 25 September, organised by the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Oxford and the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of York, leading experts will consider the latest policy developments and research evidence on the provision of income support and social care services.
The event, sponsored by Economic and Social Research Council, will also mark the publication by The Policy Press of a ground-breaking book, Cash and Care: Policy challenges in the Welfare State, commemorating the work of Professor Sally Baldwin, a former Director of SPRU, who died three years ago.
The seminar will examine how, in developed societies, traditional services are being transformed into cash payments - direct payments, individual budgets and childcare allowances - intended to offer greater choice and control.
Maintaining economic productivity and full employment while sustaining individuals and families in providing quality care and support is a difficult circle to square
Professor Caroline Glendinning
At the same time, governments need increasing numbers of people to enter the labour market, so new ways are required to support families in caring for children and older people. And new risks and disadvantages arise for people whose age, impairments or care responsibilities prevent them from working and participating in modern consumer societies.
According to Caroline Glendinning, Professor of Social Policy in SPRU, Britain is facing major demographic and economic pressures, as well as responding to new demands for consumer choice and citizenship.
"Maintaining economic productivity and full employment while sustaining individuals and families in providing quality care and support is a difficult circle to square. There is no simple solution – both cash payments and services in kind are needed to avoid creating new forms of disadvantage," she said.
Cash and Care: Policy challenges in the Welfare State brings together leading international experts and includes theoretical reflections on cash, care and their relationships to work, as well as new empirical research from the UK, Europe and Australia on these topics.
Notes to editors:
- The Cash and Care: New Directions in Policy and Practice seminar
will be held on Monday 25 September 2006 at the National Council for
Voluntary Organisations in London. Attendance at the seminar is free of
charge, but participants must be registered in advance as the number of
places is limited.
Contact Helen Wills - email: helen.wills@socres.ox.ac.uk - Cash and Care: Policy Challenges in the Welfare State, edited by Caroline Glendinning and Peter A Kemp is published by The Policy Press. It is available to buy from www.policypress.org.uk or from Marston Book Services, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4YN (01235 465500) price £22.99 plus £2.75 p&p.
- The Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York has an international reputation for excellence in research in social policy, especially health and social care, poverty, social security and employment.
- The Social Policy and Social Work Department is an inter-disciplinary social science institution carrying out teaching and research at the University of Oxford. www.apsoc.ox.ac.uk/
- The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC total expenditure in 2005/6 was £135million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
- Sally Baldwin was the director of SPRU from 1987 to 2002, when she returned to work in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work. She died in an accident in Rome on 28 October 2003. Read Sally’s profile and obituary at www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/profiles/sb.htm
- For further information, please contact: Caroline Glendinning, tel: 01904 321989/ 07739 797 027 email: cg20@york.ac.uk Jacqueline Lawless at The Policy Press on Tel: 0117 3314097 or email jacqueline.lawless@bristol.ac.uk