Book review: Community Care Practice and the law

COMMUNITY CARE PRACTICE AND THE LAW

Michael Mandelstam, Jessica Kingsley Publishers

ISBN 1843102331, £39.95

STAR RATING 4/5

Michael Mandelstam ably looks at what can go on behind the social services corporate facade, as aspirations come up against the reality of budgets, writes Ed Mitchell.

For this reason, Community Care Practice and the Law might be useful for those who work one step removed from community care decision-making, such as lawyers and advice agencies. It is also useful for managers and practitioners in councils or voluntary sector organisations.

I liked the extensive and jargon-free use of higher court and ombudsman decisions to illustrate points made.

Most of the law covered is from England but the principles are applicable to the UK.

This is the third edition and has been radically rewritten and restructured to reflect the many changes to social care law and legislation. Indeed, nearly every such decision over the past 10 or so years in the community care field features somewhere in the book. In all, it is highly recommended.

Ed Mitchell is a solicitor and editor of Social Care Law Today. His new regular column in Community Care on legal decisions affecting social care will begin this summer.