Conversations on Care 2024-25

The following events for the Care Initiative have taken place during the 2024-25 academic year. Details of future events will be shared on the main Care Initiative page.

 

The Politics of Social Care Reform in the UK: Delivery, Drift or Decay?

Thursday 6 February 2025, 16:00 to 17:30, EP Abraham Lecture Theatre and Online

In conjunction with the Oxford Institute of Social Policy Seminar Series, ‘Perspectives in Care’. Information about other ‘Perspectives in Care’ talks.

About

Speaker: Professor Catherine Needham (University of Birmingham)

This talk focuses on why it has been so difficult to reform social care in the four nations of the UK. It explores not just the policy complexity of the issues but also the contested politics of making progress on reform. It compares progress in the four nations of the UK, highlighting distinctive issues in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Looking forward, as England embarks on developing a National Care Service, the talk explores what can be learned from the difficulties Scotland has faced in advancing its own National Care Service plans.

Report by Professor Mary Daly: The Politics of Social Care Reform in the UK

 

Unpaid care in the social care system: Recalibration or reconceptualisation?

Wednesday 30 October 2024 18:00 to 19:30, EP Abraham Lecture Theatre and Online

About

Speaker: Professor Liz Lloyd (University of Bristol)

Calls to recalibrate the balance between paid and unpaid care have been evident since the 1990s. In the intervening years, the balance has shifted consistently in the opposite direction to that demanded by early commentators, leading to grossly exploitative and unsatisfactory conditions of care. In this unpromising context what potential exists for the development of equitable and effective relations between paid and unpaid care?

This question will be explored by Professor Liz Lloyd, who will discuss contemporary ideas that challenge the damaging legacy of policies and practices and suggest ways in which unpaid care might be reconceptualised as part of the social care system.

Report by Professor Mary Daly: Unpaid care in the social care system

Download the slides (PDF)

Unpaid Care in the Social Care System: Recalibration or reconceptualization?

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The Politics of Social Care Reform in the UK: Delivery, Drift or Decay?

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