ABSTRACT
The previous two chapters showed how the Marshallian notion of civil and social rights can be applied to community care assessments and services - the former being a civil right and the latter a social right. This chapter will now address the question of how frontline practitioners make decisions about who gets access to community care assessments and services - how does the way in which they manage demand for assessments and services impact upon the civil and social rights of disabled people and their families? And how do practitioners balance the sometimes competing claims to be the most competent person to assess a disabled person's needs: whose views are given the greatest legitimacy, and why? The chapter will begin by describing the structure and function of the six teams that took part in the study. It will then briefly describe the formal criteria and procedures laid down by managers across each local authority.
