Legal literacy

What this means

Legal literacy, when considering More Resources, Better Used, is about awareness of rights in the workforce. Many of the suggestions to improve resource use – such as around prevention – have legal teeth, but they are either not known about, or not enforced.

’The general public that accesses social care can be forgiven for not knowing various parts of the law, and it should not be up to them to have to show workers where and when they have made unlawful decisions.’

While it’s true that, as the group asserted:..unless people know their rights, they won’t have a basis from which to challenge.

It was strongly felt that: The onus is on workers to know enough about the law in order to make safe, legal decisions. Then citizens won’t have to challenge so many things in order to have their needs met and their rights enforced.

The research

Legal literacy is also a theme in the Leading The Lives We Want To Live and Sharing Power As Equals key changes. It’s importance is unsurprising; many of the suggestions in this evidence review, and the research that supports them, are already there - in the Care Act 2014. The ‘wellbeing principle’ states:

The general duty of a local authority, in exercising a function under this Part in the case of an individual, is to promote that individual’s wellbeing.

Care Act 2014, Part 1

Wellbeing, as defined in the Care Act 2014, can be related to any of the following (also known as the Nine domains):

1. Personal dignity (including treatment of the individual with respect).
2. Physical and mental health, and emotional wellbeing.
3. Protection from abuse and neglect.
4. Control by the individual over day-to-day life (including care and support, or support, provided to the individual and the way in which it is provided).
5. Participation in work, education, training or recreation.
6. Social and economic wellbeing.
7. Domestic, family and personal relationships.
8. Suitability of living accommodation.
9. The individual’s contribution to society.

The wellbeing principle puts person-centred and strength-based work firmly at the centre of adult social care, setting out ‘the importance of beginning with the assumption that the individual is best-placed to judge the individual’s wellbeing.’ When thinking about More Resources, Better Used it is clear that local authorities fighting legal challenges is a poor use of resources. Case law provides examples of how restrictive interpretations of the Care Act 2014 run the risk of adverse court judgments for the local authority - for example, a 2022 finding of how a holiday can meet eligible needs under the Care Act (2014).

However, Lelkes et al. (2021) found that, in social care practice, wellbeing was a fluid and complex concept – and was influenced not only by the person’s view of wellbeing, but also the practitioner’s view of wellbeing. The study suggested that, when thinking about training on the Care Act’s (2014) concept of wellbeing, attention could be given to empowering practitioners to hold uncertainty; to not approach wellbeing as a ‘tick-box’ exercise; and to appreciate that what people view as necessary for their wellbeing can, and does, change (Lelkes et al., 2021).

However, as one group member pointed out, legal literacy:…isn't just about wellbeing. It's in eligibility and assessments and report writing and in support planning and indicative budgets and determining funding and calculating contributions to one's social care and in making allowances for disability-related expenditure and in 101 other things.

The further information section below includes many useful, accessible guides and resources related to legal literacy.

The Care Act 2014 also sets out new rights for carers. These include the right to a carer’s assessment, a right for carers’ eligible needs to be met, and a duty on local authorities to provide information and advice to carers in relation both to their caring role and to their own needs. The context in which this came into force has been significant, as Fernandez et al. (2020) found – the impact of these strengthened rights had been limited, primarily due to cuts in local authorities’ budgets, and they had ‘not led to greater access to support for carers’ (p.4).

Marczak et al. (2021) found that local authorities still tended to approach carers as ‘a resource’ and support carers mainly in order ‘to keep cared for people away from health and social care systems’ (p.1711). However, the Care Act 2014 had been important in legitimising carers’ needs as distinct from the needs of the person they care for, with increasing recognition of the importance of meeting these needs and promoting carers’ wellbeing (Marczak et al., 2021).

The Care Act 2014 is a legal requirement - it’s also one of the key factors supporting a culture change in local authorities to a more person-centred approach to care and support (Ahuja et al., 2022). It is therefore helpful to think of legal literacy and person-centred practice as complementary to one another.

What you can do

If you are in direct practice: How do you currently share information with individuals about their legal rights under the Care Act 2014 (there are some resources to share in the Further information section, below)? Are you confident in your own knowledge, your ability to clearly communicate people’s rights, and your ability to connect people with advocacy services?

The Lelkes et al. (2021) study asked its social care practitioners two questions:

1. What do you understand by the concept of wellbeing?
2. Now, thinking about someone who lacks mental capacity to make decisions about their care and support, what do you understand by the concept of wellbeing?

You might ask these questions of yourself, and notice any potential differences in your answers.

If you are in senior management: How legally literate is your workforce? You may wish to consider the ten standards for legal literacy in an organisation and consider how you might evaluate them. 

Further information

Share

The organisation Legal Capacity (which looks at how mental capacity legislation works in everyday life) has step-by-step information on challenging decisions made under the Care Act 2014.

Disability Rights UK has an accessible guide to people’s rights under the Care Act 2014, which is designed to be used by people with care and support needs.

Watch

There are online learning packages from Research in Practice on several aspects of the Care Act 2014, including assessment and eligibility and outcome-focused approaches.

Learn

Research in Practice has a suite of resources on legal literacy in adult social care.

Read

SCIE has a range of helpful resources for those looking to find out more about legislation that is key to promoting dignity in social care Key social care legislation.