The Views of Practitioners on Care Act Easements during the Covid-19 Pandemic

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Views of Practitioners on Care Act Easements during the Covid-19 Pandemic

AU - Thomas, Emily

AU - Baginsky, Mary

AU - Manthorpe, Jill

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2023/9/25

Y1 - 2023/9/25

N2 - The easements of the Care Act 2014, permitted by the Coronavirus Act 2020, were in place in very few English local authorities and then only for a short time, but they still rippled across the wider social care workforce. This paper reports findings from interviews with social workers in ten non-easement authorities and with other professionals in easement and non-easement authorities to explore their understandings of easements and their reflections on their use and impact on practice. The interview data are set in the context of a wider study that explored decision-making about the adoption of easements in local authorities. Frontline practitioners (N = 30) confirmed confusion about easements and suspicion that they were a retrograde step in people’s entitlements to care and support. These views were also set in a context of lack of pandemic preparedness in social care and reflections that the care system was already fragile after a sustained period of reductions to local authority budgets and rising need. Both a robust care infrastructure was needed, as well as better crisis or disaster preparedness and planning.

AB - The easements of the Care Act 2014, permitted by the Coronavirus Act 2020, were in place in very few English local authorities and then only for a short time, but they still rippled across the wider social care workforce. This paper reports findings from interviews with social workers in ten non-easement authorities and with other professionals in easement and non-easement authorities to explore their understandings of easements and their reflections on their use and impact on practice. The interview data are set in the context of a wider study that explored decision-making about the adoption of easements in local authorities. Frontline practitioners (N = 30) confirmed confusion about easements and suspicion that they were a retrograde step in people’s entitlements to care and support. These views were also set in a context of lack of pandemic preparedness in social care and reflections that the care system was already fragile after a sustained period of reductions to local authority budgets and rising need. Both a robust care infrastructure was needed, as well as better crisis or disaster preparedness and planning.

KW - care act

KW - Covid -19

KW - easements

KW - practioners

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172155442&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/09503153.2023.2261664

DO - 10.1080/09503153.2023.2261664

M3 - Article

SN - 0950-3153

JO - Practice. Social Work in Action

JF - Practice. Social Work in Action

ER -