This short guide cuts through the confusing mass of legislation to provide a concise and jargon-free explanation of current care practice and the law. It explains the legislation relevant to practitioners, including rules about how people in need get an assessment from local authorities, the assessment of need and charging for services.

This fourth edition of Community Care Practice and the Law has been fully updated to reflect the rapid and continuing legal, policy and practice changes affecting community care. It provides comprehensive and jargon-free explanations of community care legislation, as well as other areas of law directly relevant to practitioners, including the NHS, disabled facilities grants and housing adaptations, asylum and immigration, mental capacity, human rights, disability discrimination, health and safety at work and negligence – and a range of legal provisions relevant to the protection and safeguarding of adults. Apart from the burgeoning legal case law and ombudsman investigations, changes from the last edition include coverage of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, legal implications of 'self directed care' and 'individual budgets', changes to direct payments and 'ordinary residence' determinations. In particular, new guidance applies to the high profile issue of NHS continuing health care. The book is an essential guide for practitioners and managers in both the statutory and voluntary sectors, policy makers in local authorities and the NHS, advocates, lawyers and social work students.

Mandelstam breaks this complex subject down into individual terms, then explains the legal and practical implications of each term in plain language, enabling readers to explore specific issues quickly and concisely.