ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the characteristics and directions of the voluntary sector in the UK. It considers the ways in which the transforming terrain of social welfare in the UK has impacted on social work and social care. The election of a government, headed by Margaret Thatcher, with her strongly declared opposition to public sector welfare in 1979, marked the beginning of a move away from the 'Welfare State' response to the provision of social welfare in the UK and with it a new direction for social work and social care. The origins of social work in the UK can be traced back to the ways in which nineteenth century Britain, struggling with the social and economic transformations consequent upon an emerging capitalist order, began to manage the welfare needs of its citizens. Social work in the UK has been shaped by a variety of factors relating to changes in the social, political, legal and organizational structures delivering social welfare.
