Tag: social services

Report summary, key findings and recommendations

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The research was conducted over a three-month period between January and April of 2014. The project began with a review of the literature, which aimed to understand the context for the changes introduced by the Welfare Reform Act 2012, and subsequent amendments made by the Scottish Government โ€“ Welfare Reform (Further Provision) (Scotland) Act 2012. Following this, 17 interviews were conducted with 5 organisations from across the care and support sector. The results of these interviews form the basis for our investigations into how the reforms are impacting on the social services workforce. Continue reading Report summary, key findings and recommendations

The impact of welfare reform on the social services workforce in Scotland

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Between April 2013 and 2017, welfare reforms will create major and far reaching changes to the benefits system. As the individual components of the UK Welfare Reform Act (2012) are slowly introduced, local government authorities, care and support providers and voluntary sector organisations are bracing themselves for an unprecedented demand on their services.

Reports from a number of concerned groups and agencies have anticipated a major shift in how care and support is delivered. The impacts of these reforms, according to a Citizens Advice Scotland report, are likely to be felt amongst the following groups: families on low incomes, the unemployed, and the disabled (Dryburgh and Lancashire, 2011). It is also expected that the impacts will be felt the most in areas where deprivation is the greatest, according to a report published by Sheffield Hallam University (Beatty and Fothergill, 2013). Continue reading The impact of welfare reform on the social services workforce in Scotland