The Production of Welfare

Abstract

Social care services in Britain today pursue a variety of objectives. Some are so general as to be denied by no one, for example, the enhancement of the well-being of the elderly population. Others are more specific and the subject of controversy, for example, the provision of family care for all children, or the extension of parental rights. Some objectives are focused on short term ‘crisis’ intervention, whilst others reflect long-term plans and hopes. Some care objectives have undergone long gestation periods before an explosive impact on practice. Two recent examples are the pursuit of ‘permanence’ in child care and the development of ‘community’ alternatives to residential care for the frail elderly. Some objectives are specified in terms of the extensiveness of intervention or coverage, such as the number of day care places per thousand population; others are statements of intensity and quality of intervention, as when services aim to reduce loneliness, raise morale, or compensate for disability. It is by reference to the objectives of care that we can define and measure needs and outputs, and thus examine the importance and influences of inputs and costs. The partial or complete achievement of care objectives and the conceptual and empirical manifestations of these elements are most usefully considered within a production of welfare framework, and it is this framework which provides the basis for the economic approach to social care.