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The impact of social policy on changes in professional practice within learning disability services: different standards for children and adults? A two-part examination: part 2. professional services under the coalition: the trends continue apace
- Authors:
- RACE David G., MALIN Nigel A.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 15(4), December 2011, pp.289-299.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
This is the second of 2 articles examining links between policy developments and changes in professional practice within learning disability services in England. The first article (ibid, 14(4), 2010, 315-328) concluded that there was a developing gap in professional inputs between children’s and adult services. This article looks at the effects of the first year of the Coalition government. It argues that its policies, especially the large-scale reduction in public expenditure, have exacerbated the trends identified earlier. There has been a reduction in the professional training and qualification for staff in the adult social care sector. For children, there has been a decline in support for inclusion of children in mainstream education and a rapid growth of academies, leading to fears of a move towards more independent specialist schools for children with learning disabilities. In addition, local authorities, though outwardly compliant, have variously interpreted their responsibilities under the personalisation agenda, in particular in relation to individual budgets, and this has resulted in assessments of need being based on ‘service hours’ rather than service quality and staff qualifications.