Wednesday 26 February ¦ 10:00 - 12:00 ¦ Online: MS Teams 

The Care Act (England) 2014 requires local authorities to act to provide and enable ‘…for the provision of services, facilities or resources, or take other steps’ to support prevention (Section 2). However, there are multiple and inconsistent drivers for a renewed focus on prevention in social care. Demands for services continue to grow in ways that are challenging to meet, and prevention is part of the response. For some, prevention is inherently the ‘right thing to do’ based on social development values. An emphasis on prevention in social care is not new, with familiar practice dilemmas. These include how to support prevention in fast-paced environments, when there is varied use of the term ‘prevention’, and insufficient public funding for social care. 

Research on prevention in social services reveals implementation successes and gaps, critically explores language, values, ethics and models of prevention, and explores questions about measurement and impact. This practice and research session will discuss research and practice lessons about prevention in social care.