The adult day care workforce in England at a time of policy change: implications for learning disability support services

Abstract

More people will receive personal budgets to pay for social care services in England. Such people may or may not continue using services such as adult day care centres. Many day centres are under threat of closure. These trends will affect those working in adult day care. This article examines the profile of this workforce, using recent NMDS-SC data and applying multinomial statistical modelling. We identified nearly 6000 adult day care workers, over half supporting adults with learning disability. The results of the analysis show significant variations between the adult day care, residential care and domiciliary workforces. At the personal level, day care workers are significantly older and less ethnically diverse than other workers. They tend to have been working in the sector for longer, and their work patterns are more stable. The findings are discussed within the context of policy changes affecting learning disabilities and social care workforce strategies.

Keeping it in the family? People with learning disabilities and families employing their own care and support workers

“…The former were more likely to employ personal assistants and to pay other people to help them at home, and were less likely to access informal care and support from family and friends, to use day care services or to take short-term breaks in care homes. The impact of this on day services is likely to be substantial and possible closures of such facilities are widely reported (Hussein and Manthorpe, 2010). Personal assistants for this group were not generally family members and it will be interesting to see if this changes.…”

Changes in the Provision of Day Services in Ireland to Adult Persons With Intellectual Disability

“…That said, the pattern of provision evident in the analyses reported here seems to run counter to international trends and to recently formulated government policy. The period from 2009 onward saw reductions in service budgets in real terms, which may have encouraged providers to consolidate around long‐established, center‐based models of care provision with higher levels of staff‐client ratios rather than diversifying into new styles of more personalized supports (Hatton, ; Hussein & Manthorpe, ). To date, there have been few cost‐benefit studies comparing the outcomes for service users receiving alternative service models, but these are necessary to assure governments of value‐for‐money (Beyer et al, ; Beyer et al, ).…”