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Incoming Association of Directors of Social Services president Mike Leadbetter told delegates that both social services and government would have to accept that they cannot "micro manage the world". Instead, he called on statutory agencies to use "influence, respect, shared goals, common values and partnership" to achieve their objectives.

He warned that professions that felt under threat were the ones that most closely guarded their boundaries. He suggested instead that social care should cherish its own strengths and values while being open to the expertise and experience of its partners.

"Service users want a service, and they do not care who provides it. But they do care if you do it well."

He applauded social care's move towards service user involvement, highlighting direct payments and family group conferences as examples where power and choice had been handed back. "These signify a significant change in the balance of power - and I think it is a more fundamental and profound change than almost anything else."

But he warned that with this power came responsibility. He said service users would need support to help make decisions and to identify the difference between need and want. And he said that service users needed to be involved in the debate about what they were willing to pay for, what was a priority, and what was reasonable to expect. "We have to accept that we can not have more of everything, all of the time, now."

Speaking about children's services, Leadbetter suggested that a gap of £500m existed between the cash available and the money actually spent. And he argued that the approach to children as a whole was "neither firm enough, nor kind enough".

While he commended the staff caring for children as "wonderfully committed, dedicated people," he asked why it took five years to train to be a vet, while children in the care system could be looked after by people without relevant qualifications.

He announced that the ADSS, in conjunction with the Institute for Public Policy Research, will be in the coming year conducting research into service users' needs, the scope of services and the recruitment and staffing crisis. The results will be published in time for next year's annual conference in Cardiff.