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Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on long-standing, structural race inequality in Britain. This paper aims to review historic patterns of ethnic diversity among the workforce employed in services for older people to present some of the lessons that can be learned from the pandemic.


Design/methodology/approach
A historical overview was undertaken of research about ethnic diversity in the social care workforce.


Findings
Too often, the ethnic diversity of the social care workforce has been taken as evidence that structural racial inequalities do not exist. Early evidence about the impact of coronavirus on workers from black and minority ethnic groups has led to initiatives aimed at reducing risk among social care employers in the independent sector and in local government. This offers a blueprint for further initiatives aimed at reducing ethnic inequalities and promoting ethnic diversity among the workforce supporting older people.


Research limitations/implications
The increasing ethnic diversity of the older population and the UK labour force highlights the importance of efforts to address what is effective in reducing ethnic inequalities and what works in improving ethnic diversity within the social care workforce and among those using social care services for older people.


Originality/value
The ethnic makeup of the workforce reflects a complex reality based on multiple factors, including historical patterns of migration and gender and ethnic inequalities in the UK labour market.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the equalities' dimension of falls prevention services in light of the Equality Act 2010 and its protected characteristics. Research and policy are discussed in light of the Act and public services' duties to be aware of their responsibilities.Design/methodology/approachAn initial research review was undertaken in 2012 and updated in 2016.FindingsThe research on falls prevention services does not always collect data on users of the service and services do not always collect data about their users that would enable them to build a picture of their users in line with the Equality Act 2010.Practical implicationsServices and commissioners will need to be able to show that the services funded by the public purse are accessible, acceptable and appropriate to the UK's increasingly diverse older population. This paper describes some of the existing resources and research papers that contain elements of attention to the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010.Originality/valueThis is an update on a research review undertaken in 2012.

Purpose
There is increasing interest in befriending services that aim to combat loneliness among older people. The purpose of this paper is to use the Equality Act 2010 as a framework for considering why older people might need these services and why some groups are over and under represented among service users.


Design/methodology/approach
Databases, websites and other resources were searched systematically for material on befriending. The final review consisted of 80 items, ranging from research articles, reports, and toolkits.


Findings
Individual face to face befriending has been the mainstay of the type of befriending support for older people. The increasing diversity of the older population and reductions in funding has led to adaptations of this model for different groups living in different circumstances.


Research limitations/implications
The resources and time available to conduct the review were limited. It is possible that some relevant material was not identified.


Practical implications
Practitioners working with older people need to know about befriending schemes available in their area and consider the reasons why some groups of older people might be reluctant to use them or require specialist schemes.


Originality/value
Existing research on befriending rarely reports the demographic characteristics of those using the service in detail or considers why some groups of older people might have greater needs for befriending services or be reluctant to use them. The Equality Act 2010 provides a structured framework for considering diversity in access to, and use of, services.

In England, voluntary organisations such as the Carers Trust and Alzheimer's Society play major roles in providing practical help and support to family carers. This article draws on a large study looking at social care practice with carers to illustrate how changes in social care commissioning and cuts in funding have created difficulties for organisations such as these. It asks whether contracting policies based on competition between providers threaten collaborative campaigning and strategic alliances.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore whether handyperson services are able to meet the needs of diverse groups of older people, specifically in the UK policy context, to meet the requirements of the Equality Act (2010).Design/methodology/approach– The scoping review of the literature was conducted in 2012 using a wide range of literature from the UK.Findings– In an under-researched field it is difficult for policy makers to determine whether handyperson schemes and their associated services are accessible to and being used by all sections of the older population. Schemes do not generally collect and report data about their users.Research limitations/implications– The scoping review concentrates on UK literature. There are a variety of handyperson schemes and they operate in different ways with different criteria and priorities. Some of the accounts of handyperson schemes provide little data about user characteristics.Practical implications– The paper suggests how handyperson schemes may be able to meet the requirements of the Equality Act (2010) by outlining what data are needed and approaches to gathering it sensitively and proportionally.Originality/value– The paper is the first to consider the implications of the Equality Act for handyperson schemes, which may be relevant to other housing and care services.

Abstract
Signs of Safety (SoS) is a comprehensive assessment framework (AF) used in some form in most English children's service departments as well as in many other countries. The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (AF) was introduced nearly twenty years ago to address identified failures to adopt a holistic approach to assessments of families where there were concerns that children were in need of protection or support. The AF is not only a statutory requirement in England but it has influenced the development of approaches to assessment globally. An evaluation of SoS in pilot local authorities in England provided opportunities to examine the extent to which the two frameworks were being used together. Findings from interviews, case record analysis and a survey indicate that while recording processes were aligned with the AF, it was not central to many of the assessments conducted and it proved difficult to detect its influence on their content. It appears timely to examine the extent to which the AF is used across England, to assess its relevance to current practice and the extent to which frameworks such as SoS have supplemented or replaced it.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the changes to the content and delivery of care work in the context of developments in the wider labour market.


Design/methodology/approach
A total of 240 interviews with social care practitioners and managers were undertaken at Time 1 (T1) (2009–2012) and Time 2 (T2) (2011–2014) in four local council sites in England. A final round of interviews (T3) with managers (n=60) and staff (n=60) took place between 2015 and 2018.


Findings
The way in which many workers found meaning and satisfaction within their work was an important way by which many of them tempered dissatisfaction with pay, status and working conditions. Some workers used the concepts of ethical practice and vocation to differentiate themselves from other workers and organisations whom they considered lack these qualities and from what they saw as a wider societal perception that their work was unskilled and unfulfilling.


Research limitations/implications
The interview data may not be generalisable or totally representative of care staff. Those employers who agreed to participate may have been more committed to workforce development and valued their staff more highly. Nonetheless, data were sector wide and there were sizeable numbers of participants.


Practical implications
Pride and job satisfaction are important aspects of job satisfaction in care work and could be fostered in care services and by older people.


Social implications
Negative perceptions of care work within society may act as a barrier to recruitment and retention. Older people might help raise the positive profile of care work.


Originality/value
This is a unique data set from which to document long-term determinants of job satisfaction in care work.

Purpose
Signs of Safety (SoS) is a strengths-based approach to child protection casework that has been widely adopted in countries across the world. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that aimed to synthesise the many evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to assess their strengths and limitations. The intention is to identify the aspects which should be explored further and those that remain unexamined to inform future evaluations.


Design/methodology/approach
The study collated and then examined many of the evaluations that are in the public domain as well as some of those that were conducted within agencies and have not been made publicly available.


Findings
At the present time (early 2019), the evidence base for SoS is limited. Independent, robust research needs to be undertaken over time to build on the studies that have been conducted. New research must be designed to fill gaps and be capable of producing the evidence required and it must address its own limitations.


Originality/value
This study is the most comprehensive contemporary review of the evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to the best of the authors' knowledge.