Use the case study to illustrate your understanding of the influence of underpinning legislation in relation to how social care intervention could improve their quality of life.

To consider the influence of legislation in relation to social care, the case of Mary who has been diagnosed with dementia will be used to explain how legislation is used. Within social work, law is very important as it is used to provide guidance and duties for the local authorities and professionals in how to proceed with a case.

In this case social care intervention would be appropriate for Mary as she has significant care needs. She is often confused by her surroundings, she needs assistance during the night, and she is at risk of neglecting herself and
Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) is a national framework for eligibility criteria; this provides local authorities with universal criteria and it is used to assess the levels of risk for the service user. It is issued under section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (Brammer: 2010, 411). The levels used are: low, moderate, substantial and critical, and are used to determine whether someone has “eligible needs”, which the local authority will have a duty to, meet the established needs (scie: 2010). Mary’s assessment would determine the level of need that Mary is considered to have, and whether or not the local authority would meet these needs.

Within the guidance for eligibility criteria Mary could be considered to be of critical need as she is at risk of serious neglect and there is an inability to carry out domestic routines and has no real social support systems, as her daughter has work and family commitments. Mary has no other family that could help with her care and therefore she would need care provided for her.

The eligibility criteria provides problems within itself, Prioritising Need 2010 states that the local authority should prioritise those who have critical needs above those with low needs and so on. However those with low need often return with greater needs due to lack of intervention and / or service provision. Therefore this system is not cost