Personalisation - Paperback

by Peter Beresford (Editor)

Personalisation has become the policy buzz-word of the twenty-first century. Supporters claim it offers service users choice and services attuned to meet their specific needs, moving away from 'one size fits all' state services. In this short form book, part of the Critical and Radical Debates in Social Work series, Peter Beresford, one of Britain's foremost social work academics, challenges the personalisation agenda and its consequences on service users. Although critical of 'one size fits all' services that deny service user voice, Beresford argues that personalisation turns service users into 'consumers' of services within a care market and hence reinforces the commodification of care which sees vast profits made by a small number of providers at the expense of good quality services for those who use them.

Author Biography

Peter Beresford OBE is Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Centre for Citizen Participation at Brunel University and Chair of Shaping Our Lives, the national service user and disabled people's organisation and network. He has a background as a long term user of mental health services and a longstanding involvement in issues of participation as writer, researcher, activist and educator.