By Wendy Lowder I've never been one to bemoan national policy decisions (OK - I admit I do sometimes)! I've always been a sort of a 'crack on with job' kinda gal. I suppose Barnsley (in South Yorkshire for those of you who have never heard it - sh...

By Shaun Webster I want to share with you some thoughts about how I would like to see people with learning disabilities contributing as paid employees in the field of social care. I think about people with learning disabilities not just as...

By Lynne Elwell This year marks twenty two years since I ran the first Partners in Policymaking course in the UK. This is a leadership training programme for self-advocates and parents and relatives of disabled children. As you might...

By Sam Sly I've read all the great blogs written so far for #socialcarefuture and every one of them says a little bit of what I would have wanted to write about, so I thought I best get this blog out quick, before there is nothing more to...

By Ewan King For all the problems it faces, the social care sector has always shown that it can innovate. From personal budgets, which were pioneered in social care, through to shared lives schemes around the country, it's a sector which c...

By Julie Stansfield We can be forgiven for feeling pretty gloomy when, as a society, we are in effect seeing it as a problem that older people are living longer and younger people with complex health needs are surviving....effectively blam...

By Richard Humphries This week Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Jeremy Hunt used the occasion of World Social Work Day to set out seven principles around which th...

By Sam Clark I said I'd write a blog for this series on #socialcarefuture ages ago and Martin has kept gently reminding me (nagging) but there is a reason (excuse) for my delay. Partly, it's because so much has been written about the fut...

By Alex Fox OBE The people with learning disabilities who work at the human rights organisation CHANGE pointed out to me once that people who have a learning disability are the only group of oppressed people who are routinely excluded from...

By Rich Watts Much debate in public policy focuses on the "why" and the "what". Why is this issue important? Why should it be prioritised over something else? What should be in place that isn't? What needs to change for this to happen? Com...