ABSTRACT
As the figures in the Fact File above reveal, community care is provided to a large proportion of the population. Local authority Adult Social Services deal with a huge number of new contacts from people requesting services each year. Also significant is the fact that the vast majority of adults with disabilities receive care in their own home or in sheltered accommodation in the community as opposed to in residential or nursing care. It is worth noting that local authorities now only provide a relatively small proportion of residential placements for adults compared to the independent sector. Although the use of direct payments may appear small at 67,000 compared to the total number of people receiving community care services, this figure represents a 38 per cent increase on the previous year. This is important as direct payments are a key aspect of the Government’s new personalisation agenda which, as this chapter will explain, is transforming the existing system of care management for the delivery of community care services.
