The impact of social policy on changes in professional practice within learning disability services: different standards for children and adults? A two-part examination

Abstract

This is the second of two articles examining links between policy developments and changes in professional practice within learning disability services in England. The first article focused on policy foundations over the last 30 years, and concluded that there was a developing gap in professional inputs between children’s and adult services. This article, written one year into the Coalition government, argues that its policies – especially the large-scale reduction in public expenditure, but also the decline in support for inclusion of children in mainstream education, the rapid growth of academies, and proposals for the reorganization of the NHS – have exacerbated the trends identified earlier. In addition, local authorities, though outwardly compliant, have variously interpreted their responsibilities under the personalization 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.