Sue Yeandle

Voice and choice for users and carers? developments in patterns of care for older people in Australia, England and Finland

This article identifies key trends over the last 20 years in residential and community care for older people in England, Finland and Australia, investigating the extent of ‘de-institutionalisation’, ‘privatisation’ and ‘individualisation’. The concepts of collective and individual ‘voice’ and ‘choice’ are used to interrogate the roles of collective and individual actors, older people and carers, in influencing policy formulation. While these three processes have been pursued by policy-makers in each country, their implementation is illuminated by understanding how ‘voice’ and ‘choice’ have been operationalised – individually and collectively – in each context. In the reshaping of eldercare in the three states, the analysis identifies the greater influence of claims-making by family carers, who provide the informal bastion of formal care services in the push to de-institutionalisation, in comparison with the collective and individual voices of older people as ‘service users’.

Gender Contracts, Welfare Systems and Non-Standard Working: Diversity and Change in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the UK

This chapter reviews evidence relating to the extent and type of non-standard, or atypical, work being done in five European countries — Denmark, Germany, France, Italy and the UK, during the period 1985–95. Five countries were selected as the largest number which could be considered in one chapter, and to represent both a variety of labour market situations and a geographical spread. ‘Non-standard’ work is paid work which is neither full-time according to national definitions (usually 35+ hours per week) nor permanent in that the employee has a contract of employment for an indefinite period (see Fevre, 1991; Pollert, 1991 for a discussion). The chapter seeks to locate the trends observed in their wider social context.

Care Workers and Work—Life Balance: The Example of Domiciliary Careworkers

In much of the literature, and in most popular discussion, the term ‘work-life balance’ is used to imply the need for individuals, employers and policy-makers to act to achieve an optimum state, in which each person can achieve a state of equilibrium between two time-consuming and competitive activities: on the one hand, paid work and, on the other, a ‘life’ that contains a wide variety of activities, but, by definition, is not paid work. Although this equilibrium can involve different allocations of time and effort to ‘work’ and ‘life’ by different people, and indeed by the same people at different life stages, the concept implies a dichotomy between ‘work’ for wages or for financial gain, and ‘life’ in which the rewards of activities, effort and commitments are non-monetary.

The Potential of ICT in supporting Domiciliary Care in England

The report begins with a brief overview of the social care system in England, providing in particular evidence about unpaid carers (mostly family members, but sometimes friends or neighbours) and the paid home care workers, who support older, sick or disabled people of all ages in their own homes. The variety of ways in which ICT (including telecare) has begun to be used to support those involved in providing domiciliary care is then described, highlighting both major publicly-funded initiatives and investments, and some of the approaches embraced by voluntary and private sector organisations. Eight concise case studies are provided to illustrate more in depth the range of different ways in which these new developments are contributing to the support available to carers and care workers, including through online dialogue and debate among carers. The last part of the report addresses the particular focus on immigrant and ethnic minority carers and care workers, presenting some evidence from the range of available statistical data on this topic (and notes the limitations of the available statistics). Finally, the authors offer some conclusions and cautious recommendations.

Work and Care in the Life Course: Understanding the Context for Family Arrangements

The article develops a case study of the family and work history of an interviewee which is used to illustrate the context in which family arrangements for work, care and support develop. The study uses Finch and Masons (1993) focus on human agency to develop a ‘family responsibilities account’, and then goes on to explore three aspects of the social structural context in which the life has been lived. These are developed from Connells analysis (1987) of gender relations: constraints associated with the division of labour, with issues of power and with emotional and personal life (cathexis). A detailed account of the life in question is given, and this is reanalysed using the four approaches indicated. The result is an overall account which emphasises the complexity of social life and of human decision-making, even at the apparently mundane level of choices about family life, paid employment, domestic work and the care and support of kin. The extent to which constraining factors interweave with individual agency is demonstrated, and the significance of the analysis for policymakers is noted: each change in arrangements for work and care in a life affects others, and policy must be made in an awareness of the complexity of its unintended effects as well as of its objectives.

Challenges in combining work and care: Evidence from investigating women’s work in Leeds

Using official data and other evidence about the people and economy of the city of Leeds, England, and focusing on one decade, the 2000s, this article considers employment trends and policy developments relevant to parents’ and carers’ capacity to combine work and care. Highlighting the dynamic nature of labour supply and demand in the Leeds local labour market, the article examines the impact of developments in the local infrastructure of support for caring and parenting and the availability and level of social security and welfare. The discussion explores the extent to which a decade of unprecedented policy attention to childcare and caring affected the challenges facing parents and carers who wish to combine work and care, and asks whether the progress achieved is likely to be sustainable in a following decade of economic austerity.

Married Women at Midlife: Past Experience and Present Change

The working lives of married women in their middle years before statutory retirement age and after children enter secondary education, have not received a great deal of attention in the literature on women’s labour. Yet this is a period when many changes typically occur in women’s domestic and family lives, and when their decisions about working life are of particular interest.

Older workers and care-giving in England: the policy context for older workers’ employment patterns

This article considers recent changes in the incidence of caring among people aged 50-64 in England and the policy context in which these have occurred. After introducing the topic, research questions addressed and methods used, it outlines findings from other research on how older workers experience and manage caring roles. It then sets out relevant public policy developments since carers were first accorded rights to recognition and services in 1995, focusing on workplace support, local services and financial help for people who reduce or quit their paid work to care. The article presents new analyses of the population censuses conducted in England in 2001 and 2011, focusing on people aged 50-64 and especially on those aged 60-64, the group in which the largest changes were seen. Theses show growth in caring at higher levels of intensity for older workers, and increases in the incidence of caring alongside paid work. To deepen understanding of these changes, the analysis also draws on data from a government survey of carers conducted in 2009-10. The concluding discussion argues that although the modest policy changes implemented since 1995 have provided some support to older workers managing work and care, more policy attention needs to be given following the sharp increase in the incidence of caring seen among people aged 50-64 in England between 2001 and 2011.

From Provider to Enabler of Care? Reconfiguring Local Authority Support for Older People and Carers in Leeds, 2008 to 2013

Abstract This article explores developments in the support available to older people and carers (i.e., caregivers) in the city of Leeds, United Kingdom, and examines provision changes during a period characterized by unprecedented resource constraint and new developments in national-local governance. Using documentary evidence, official statistics, and findings from recent studies led by the author, the effects of these changes on service planning and delivery and the approach taken by local actors to mitigate their impact are highlighted. The statistical data show a marked decline in some types of services for older people during a 5-year period during which the city council took steps to mobilize citizens and develop new services and system improvements. The analysis focuses on theories of social quality as a framework for analysis of the complex picture of change related to service provision. It concludes that although citizen involvement and consultations exerted a positive influence in delivering support to some older people and carers, research over a longer timescale is needed to show if these changes are adequate to protect older people and carers from the effects of ongoing budgetary constraints.

Local Welfare Policy in a Centralized Governance System: Childcare and Eldercare Services in a Period of Rapid Change in Leeds

In welfare systems in which key elements are rather centralized, with somewhat limited local discretion, control or responsibility, arrangements for childcare and the support of frail, sick or disabled older people operate rather differently, with different effects and outcomes. In this chapter, the focus is on Leeds in England, where welfare legislation gives central government significant powers and responsibilities for shaping the structures and policies in place, and central government departments exercise considerable control over the resources allocated to these spheres. Despite placing statutory responsibilities on local authorities (including in the areas of adult social care, child protection, safeguarding and sufficiency of supply of childcare services), these systems nevertheless permit local authorities (including Leeds City Council, described here) some discretion over how resources are distributed and allocated and over how services are designed. Policy and governance in these areas of welfare is consequently both dynamic and subject to pressure in periods of resource constraint. The chapter explores how childcare and eldercare arrangements in Leeds are shaped and have changed under post-2008 pressures, and considers some of the consequences for women in Leeds.