ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the various ways adults are excluded. They may be in poverty from insufficient income or barriers to their entry into the labour market. They may suffer ill health and the consequences of health inequalities. They can be alienated from their own care planning, without influence over decisions and unaware of their rights. There is an important debate over how much discretion social workers still retain in social care decisions. The introduction of personal budgets (PB), as the centre piece of personalisation, under the putting people first programme, was intended to improve on the earlier system of direct payments. When work capability assessment (WCA) replaced personal capability assessment, which had determined eligibility for incapacity benefit, it marked a shift toward a functional assessment what a person can physically and cognitively do as opposed to a condition-based approach.
