Introduction to Social Work Legislation

Core electronic texts

The following books are available electronically. Use your library account to access the full text.

• Allen, N. (2005) Making sense of the Children Act 1989. 4th ed. Chichester: Wiley.
• Brammer, A. (2007) Social work law. 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman. N.B. There is now a new 2010 3rd edition which is only currently available in printed format from the library.
• Connolly, M. (2004) Towsend-Smith on discrimination law. 2nd ed. London: Cavendish.
• Cooper, J. (ed.) (2000) Law, rights and disability. London: Jessica Kingsley.
• Davis, L. (2009) The social worker's guide to children and familes law. London: Jessica Kingsley.
• Glasby, J. and Littlechild, R. (2002) Social work and direct payments. Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Mandlestam, M. (2009) Safeguarding vulnerable adults and the law. London: Jessica Kingsley.
• Mandlestam, M. (2005) Social care practice and the law. London: Jessica Kingsley.
• Read, J. (2006) Disabled children and the law. 2nd ed. London: Jessica Kingsley.
• Sargeant, M. (ed.) (2004) Discrimination law. Harlow: Longman.
• Sargeant, M. (2008) Employment law. 4th ed. Harlow: Longman.
• Seymour, C. and Seymour, R. (2007) Courtroom skills for social workers. Exeter: Learning Matters.
• Slapper, G. and Kelly, D. (2009) The English legal system. 9th ed. London: Cavendish.
• Williams, J. (2008) Child law for social work. London: Sage.

Journals

Journals contain research papers written by experts and are very up to date. They are useful for finding information on specific aspects of a topic. The following electronic journals will be useful for this module:

• Child & Family Social Work
• Children and Society
  
• Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law

The professional magazine Community Care also contains many useful articles relevant to social work legislation.

You can search for articles in all of these journals and many more by using Ebscohost Research Databases. The following Ebscohost databases will be especially useful for this module:

• Academic Search Elite
• E-journals
• SocINDEX

Newspapers

If the legal issue you are interested in has been in the news then newspaper articles could prove useful. NewsBank Newspapers UK contains the full text of articles from all national (and many of the local) UK and Ireland newspapers for at least the last 10 years. Remember that newspaper articles and news sources should always be supplemented by more academic material.

Acts of Parliament

Acts of Parliament as originally passed by Parliament from 1988 onwards may be found on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website. N.B. the Acts are not updated after they are posted and will not show any updates or amendments. If you need up-to-date legislation use the Westlaw UK database.

Westlaw UK also contains Statutory Instruments (SIs), legal cases and an index to articles in legal journals - with links to the full text where the University has a subscription. It also contains European Union legislation and cases.

Government Reports

The UK Government produces many useful reports - some of which detail how legislation should be implimented.

Great Britain. Department of Health (2000) The Children Act Report 1995-1999. [Online].

Websites

The following websites can help you to find useful information:

• Care Quality Commission - this is the new health and social care regulator for England. It has introduced core standards for different areas of social work and social care service provision which are available on the website.
• The Children's Legal Centre - charity concerned with law and policy affecting children and young people.
• Eurochild - a network of organisations and individuals working in and across Europe to improve the quality of life for children and young people.
  
• European Court of Human Rights - website of the European Court of Human Rights including case law and reports.
  
• Intute: Law - gateway to quality checked legal websites covering both UK and European law.
• Department for Education - formed on 12th May 2010, the Department for Education is responsible for education and children's services. It includes current legislation regarding child care, child protection and adoption.
  
• Department of Health - the home page of the Department of Health is a useful source of material including local authority circulars which amplify how legislation should be implemented. It also contains useful material on mental health law and community care.
• Home Office - excellent for up to date material on criminal justice issues.

• University of Kent: Lawlinks - 

  Gateway to legal resources on the web maintained by the University of Kent. It contains a wealth of links covering UK resources, UK Government, International law, European Union, human rights, civil rights, criminal justice, family law, gay and lesbian rights, immigration and more.
  

• University of Liverpool: Centre for the Study of the Child, the Family and the Law -

  This is an interdisciplinary centre that aims to undertake and produce authoritative research on legal and social policy and practice, as well as issues of national and international concern affecting children and their families.

 Blogs

• Family Law Week Articles - the latest articles from Family Law Week - a website dedicated to all aspects of law relating to children and families.
  
• Family Law Week Judgements - the latest judgements in family law cases.
• Family Law Week Legislation - the latest news on legislation relating to children and families.
• Family Law Week News - all the latest legal news relating to children and families.
• Family Lore Case Digest - the latest cases concerning children and families from the Family Lore website maintained by John Bolch, a solicitor specialising in family law.
• Family Lore News - the latest legal news regarding children and families.
• Malcolm Johnson & Co Solicitors: Child Abuse Blog - Malcolm Johnson & Co are specialist child abuse solicitors. Their blog contains the latest legal news relating to child abuse.
• Religion Law Blog - a commentary on legal developments relating to religious freedom and religious discrimination maintained by barrister Neil Addison.
• UK Human Rights Blog - this blog aims to provide a free, comprehensive and balanced legal updating service on the law relating to human rights. It is maintained by the barristers at 1 Crown Office Row.