Policy & Practice

This book will improve understanding of how voluntary organisations are structured and evolve, and how they respond to opportunities and constraints. Drawing on case studies with eight UK organisations, it addresses the key dilemmas of voluntary action and explores how these are experienced and managed within particular organisations.

Reflecting realities explores participants' perspectives on participation structures; capacity building and the technical and professional support available; and systems for monitoring and evaluating regeneration programmes. The report includes recommendations for national and regional government, local authorities and community organisations.

'Regeneration', 'mainstreaming', 'community involvement', 'evidence-based policy', 'public service reform' - terms central to the government's policy programme for tackling social deprivation. This report describes how an East London community organisation has worked to give these terms practical meaning through its Social Enterprise Zone project.

Drawing on experiences from nine UK cities, Developing people - Regenerating place analyses the views of a range of practitioners on how to achieve more effective joint working across area regeneration and social inclusion initiatives.

The government's NHS Plan emphasises the importance of services users' views. This report provides practical guidance on how to ensure that older people's views are heard, acted on, and monitored, in relation to service quality. It makes recommendations for ensuring that older people's views become an integral part of home care service provision.

This report investigates the circumstances, needs, views and life experiences of black young people with caring responsibilities. It highlights significant gaps in service provision, which result in young people undertaking caring responsibilities, and makes recommendations to improve services.

Home zones (areas where cars travel slowly and space has been created for children and environmental improvement) are a common feature of the urban landscape. This handbook explains how to plan and design a home zone in an existing street or as part of a new residential area, including advice and illustrations derived from recent home zone schemes.

Despite the expansion of higher education, representation, level of participation and likelihood of academic success remain highest amongst young people from affluent areas and lowest amongst those from deprived neighbourhoods. This report identifies factors which impact upon the minority of disadvantaged young people who enter higher education.

Social rented housing in Britain is undergoing radical reform - often inspired by European experiences. This timely report provides a comparative analysis of the social rented sector in seven European countries. Combined with analysis of labour market and social security systems, it challenges the assumptions behind the British reform agenda.

The principle of service user involvement in decisions that affect them directly is now generally supported, but many voluntary organisations remain under scrutiny because of slow implementation. This report explores the processes of change in eleven voluntary organisations to draw out lessons relevant to the wider sector.

This best practice guide to providing information for users of multi-agency services for disabled children is an invaluable resource for professionals, parents and carers.

Help the Aged funded this major study because of concerns that older people living in private rented housing were vulnerable to abuse and harassment by landlords. Drawing upon detailed research with older people, professionals and landlords in six different localities, the report provides the first major study of this important issue.