Money talks? Competing discourses in the implementation of direct payments

Abstract

The Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 enables local authorities to make cash payments to service users with physical and sensory impairments and learning difficulties under the age of 65. This gives users control over money spent on meeting their community care needs, rather than receiving services arranged for them by the local authority. The policy is often represented as a victory for the disability movement and as a push towards user empowerment and social justice. However, direct payments also need to be understood as part of a wider market discourse prominent in the restructuring of welfare. Therefore, a growing culture of localized care markets with increasing ideological diversity may ultimately erode its scope for a meaningful level of user empowerment. By examining these market and social justice discourses, this article draws on analysis of two local authority approaches to direct payments and examines the level of meanings of control.