ABSTRACT
There are universal characteristics in health, education, social security and housing which mean that, at different times in their lives, almost all citizens will come into contact with the social services. Social services, by contrast, remain a minority field, with which most people, for the greater part of their lifetimes, will have almost no contact at all. The essential facts of the changing arrangement for funding long-term care are set out by Wistow. In his phrase, the emerging market in private and residential care during the 1980s, funded by social security payments, represented a ‘silent social revolution’ in the care of older people. From a political perspective, the threat of means-testing became especially problematic as it clashed with the promotion of home ownership, another key policy priority. During the 1980s, the changes outlined above proceeded relatively piece-meal and without overall direction. The policy consequences were drawn together in the 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act.
